Biosociality of Cancer: Cultural Scripts and Cultural Universals

Ignjatović, Suzana and Buturović, Željka (2017) Biosociality of Cancer: Cultural Scripts and Cultural Universals. Anthropological Notebooks, 23 (1). pp. 143-152. ISSN 1408-032X

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Abstract

Anthropologies and Uncertain Futures explore the same subject – the experience of cancer in a specific cultural context – yet, they are based on different approaches to cancer. First, Mathews and her colleagues explore cancer in adults, and Clemente focuses on childhood cancer. Second, Mathews and her colleagues conducted ethnographic studies within the field of medical and health anthropology; Clemente, as a linguistic anthropologist, observed children with cancer, their parents, and medical staff, as agents of communication and social interaction, using participant observation, interviews and conversation analysis. Finally, most of the twelve chapters of Anthropologies are focused on cancer-affected subjects (both patients and caregivers) in developing countries or immigrants living in developed countries. Field work was conducted in different locations and communities, including China, France, Brazil, India, Kenya and Puerto Rico, France, Scotland and Argentina, and the USA (Mexican and Filipino immigrants). Clemente’s monographic study deals with the micro-context of a paediatric cancer unit in Catalonia, Spain. The above differences make these two volumes complementary, providing a broad perspective on the anthropology of cancer.

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