Some thirty years ago, Clifford Geertz declared that the problem of suffering, as a religious problem, is how to suffer, not how to avoid suffering (Geertz 1967:19).
An edition of Questioning Misfortune
(1997)
Questioning misfortune
the pragmatics of uncertainty in Eastern Uganda
by Susan Reynolds Whyte
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Some of the most interesting new ethnographics of experience highlight the indeterminate nature of life. Questioning misfortune is very much within this tradition. Based on a long-term study of adversity and its social causes in Bunyole, eastern Uganda, it considers the way in which people deal with uncertainties of life, such as sickness, suffering, marital problems, failure, and death. Divination may identify causes of misfortune, ranging from ancestors and spirits to sorcerers.
Sufferers and their families try out a variety of remedial measures, including pharmaceuticals, sorcery antidotes, and sacrifices. But remedies often fail, and doubt and uncertainty persist. Even the recent commercialization of biomedicine, and the peril of AIDS can be understood in terms of a pragmatics of uncertainty.
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Subjects
Religious life and customs, Ethnology, Social problems, Social conditions, Divination, Medical anthropology, Ethnology, uganda, Uganda, social conditions, Uganda, religion, Anthropology, Magic, Ethnologie, Anthropologie médicale, Problèmes sociaux, Conditions sociales, Vie religieuse, Anthropologie, Magie, Illusion (performing art), Social issues, Brauch, Religiöses Leben, Medizin, Tegenslag, Nyoro (volk), Moeurs et coutumesShowing 3 featured editions. View all 3 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
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1
Questioning Misfortune: The Pragmatics of Uncertainty in Eastern Uganda (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)
February 13, 1998, Cambridge University Press
Paperback
in English
0521595584 9780521595582
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2
Questioning Misfortune: The Pragmatics of Uncertainty in Eastern Uganda (Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology)
February 13, 1998, Cambridge University Press
Hardcover
in English
0521594022 9780521594028
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Questioning misfortune: the pragmatics of uncertainty in Eastern Uganda
1997, Cambridge University Press
in English
0521594022 9780521594028
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
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Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-251) and index.
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