Confronting Cancer: Metaphors, Advocacy, and Anthropology

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported more than 7 million deaths from cancer– 2.5 percent of all deaths–in 2005. Each year there are approximately 11 million new cases, and WHO expects that the number will double by 2020. Although the disease is not uncommon in rich nations, 70 percent of cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income regions and countries. The growing frequency of the disease reinforces its significance as a metaphor for lack of control and degeneration and as a signifier of difference, something that is part of one’s body and world and yet completely unacceptable. In this book, anthropologists examine the lived experiences of individuals confronting cancer and reveal the social context in which prevention and treatment may succeed or fail.