Dialogue and the Interpretation of Illness

Robert Pool London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

'Robert Pool's completely honest revelation of his interviews and his attempts to make sense of them are a welcome and encouraging illustration of how fieldwork is usually conducted, what kind of data we are collecting, and how meaning is produced from it. It is not just a theoretical contribution, but also an excellent book to read before or after going into the field.'Folk: Journal of the Danish Ethnographic Sociey' Written in accessible and highly readable English, this substantial book should become a popular text in courses in anthropology, comparative religion and medical systems, and cross-cultural studies. Pool demonstrates in ways that immediately engage the reader how understanding and knowledge are never 'finally' determined once and for all, but are continually being defined and redefined by informants and ethnographers, in dialogical process. [...]This book contributes importantly to the development of conceptual frameworks for investigating and anaysing topics th

• *Introduction*First Encounters*Illness, Medicine and Etiology*Witchcraft and tvu*God, the Ancestors and Illness*From Representation to Dialogue in Medical Anthropology