Witchcraft and Cancer in the Narrative of a Portuguese Woman

ABSTRACT

An 83-year-old Portuguese cancer survivor and amputee structures her illness narrative around the etiology of an upper limb’s sarcoma, pointing to witchcraft as the root of her malignancy, through a prayer spoken by a neighbor. This is not a self-explanatory claim, since she must have the ability to blend the principles of a naturalistic thought – disrupted cells – with the supernatural, but with such a logical robustness that it can make sense to her and to others, convincingly grasping, containing and defining the ontological intricacy and interconnectedness of the multiple elements shaping her experience of bewitchment and illness.

KEYWORDS:

• Portugal
• cancer etiology
• Devil
• entangled ontologies
• illness narrative
• witchcraft

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to Luzia, the cancer survivor who shared the richness of her experience and knowledge with me. I also want to thank João Arriscado Nunes for his accurate theoretical suggestions, Maria Paula Meneses for her advice regarding literature, and Mark Carpenter for the careful reading and revision of this article. Finally, I would like to thank Medical Anthropology’s Editorial Board, James Staples, Rebecca Marsland, and Victoria Team, for their generous support and guidance, but also to express my gratitude towards the anonymous reviewers for all their invaluable insights and detailed recommendations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the Strategic Project [UIDP/50012/2020] and the Transitional Rule contract [DL57/2016/CP1341/CT0012].

Notes on contributors

Susana de Noronha

Susana de Noronha, anthropologist, is researcher and co-coordinator of the Science, Economy and Society Research Group (NECES) at the Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and is also Professor in the Network of Social Sciences Post-Graduate Programs of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences. Her books include Cancro sobre papel: estórias de oito mulheres portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita (2019); Objetos feitos de cancro: mulheres, cultura material e doença nas estórias da arte (2015) and A tinta, a mariposa e a metástase: a arte como experiência, conhecimento e acção sobre o cancro de mama (2009).