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Contested Etiology: Cancer Risk Among Two Anatolian Populations in Turkey and Europe

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Abstract

This paper discusses the different explanatory models and the contested perceptions of cancer etiology among residents of two Anatolian villages and migrants from these villages in Turkey, Sweden, and Germany. These communities suffer from an endemic, deadly cancer called mesothelioma, the cause of which is associated with exposure to an environmental carcinogenic substance, erionite, which is present in large deposits in the ground, in the stones, and white stucco that the villagers used to build their homes, and in the air in the form of dust. However, an examination of patients' disease trends, experiences, and local explanations has led to new investigations of possible familial risk cofactors. This paper selectively focuses on different aspects of cancer risk and its manifestedmetaphors, aesthetics, and perceptions. The different categories of cancer risk freely interact, derive an important part of their meaning from the context of the doctor--cancer patient relationship, and are created and navigated by the cancer narrative.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, 4323 Ben Franklin Boulevard, Suite 700, Durham, NC, 27704, USA

    Iman Roushdy-Hammady

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  1. Iman Roushdy-Hammady
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Correspondence to Iman Roushdy-Hammady.

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Roushdy-Hammady, I. Contested Etiology: Cancer Risk Among Two Anatolian Populations in Turkey and Europe. Cult Med Psychiatry 28, 315–339 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MEDI.0000046426.49826.78

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