Rubbish sick and the dancing devil

Abstract

How are the historically fraught contexts of alterity that define postcolonial settings generated and negotiated in the context of medical uncertainty? What role does narrative play in the lived experience of such uncertainty and alterity? Focusing on a single “diagnostic odyssey” of childhood illness, this article examines the relationship between chronic uncertainty, alterity, and narrative sensemaking in the highly dynamic and pluralistic healthcare setting of Vanuatu. It demonstrates how close examination of cultural metaphors relating to sickness can reveal deep insights into the lived experience of illness, health seeking, and caregiving. In doing so, it highlights the role of narrative in rendering otherwise unfathomable circumstances sensible on cultural and existential terms, including by engendering a sense of intersubjective stability in the face of trauma.