Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness with primary symptoms of widespread pain and fatigue. Social media applications have become a recent resource allowing individuals with fibromyalgia to interact in a virtual community devoted to the illness. This study explores how such a community develops and maintains itself on Instagram and the ways it creates social capital for its users. Data are derived from Instagram posts and open-ended questionnaires completed by users living with fibromyalgia who use the application. Using content analysis and semiotic methodology, the study analyzes the diverse ways in which users shared their experiences with fibromyalgia, the management of its symptoms, and issues encountered in accessing health care systems. Instagram aids in the development of a community by facilitating intimate and supportive interactions about the illness and the creation of personalized day-to-day narratives accessible to all. Norms of trust, acceptance, and reciprocity characterize the diversity of interactions in this community.
Community-engaged learning (CEL) is becoming increasingly popular across university and college campuses and sociology provides an ideal space for this type of learning to occur. While increased faculty workloads and the benefit of CEL for students are well documented, less is known about what individual students say about their CEL course experience. This paper provides a student perspective from an inaugural fourth-year sociology seminar course in CEL at the University of Victoria. The course gave students first-hand experience applying their sociological skills while reflecting on their positionality as students, peers, and researchers. Students cocreated and completed semester-long projects to aid their nonprofit community partners. To assess students’ experiences in the course, reflective journals were analyzed to explore what they said when they left the comfort of the classroom.
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