Breast Cancer Meanings ― Journeys Across Asia

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer among women in most Asian countries. Even in places where state-of-the-art medical services are available, thousands of women in Asia are dying of the disease largely due to late presentation compared to women in most Western countries. While much progress has been made in Western medical science to treat breast cancer, it appears that there are significant socio-cultural considerations and contexts in Asia that limit the efficacy of Western-based health-care methods.
This volume presents conversations across Asia with breast cancer patients, their caregivers, doctors, traditional healers as well as ordinary men and women—all on the subject of breast cancer meanings. These emerge from hearing people talk about breast cancer, and how they respond to it. They offer new understandings into how local contexts shape meanings and life courses—and hopefully will help medical practitioners devise new strategies to combat the disease.

Cynthia Chou (Editor)
Cynthia Chou is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa, also holding the C. Maxwell and Elizabeth M. Stanley Family Chair in Asian Studies. She is author or co-editor of several books including ‘The Orang Suku Laut of Riau’, ‘Indonesia: The Inalienable Gift of Territory’, ‘Southeast Asian Studies: Debates and New Directions’ and ‘Tribal Communities in the Malay World: Historical, Cultural and Social Perspectives’.

Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen (Editor)
Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen is a Post. Doc. researcher at the University of Copenhagen. She has worked as a social and medical anthropologist in Southeast Asia for more than 20 years, focusing on polygamy, gender and health. Publications include the books ‘Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis’ and ‘Elite Polygamy in Urban Malaysia’ (forthcoming).