Fabriquer le sens : le réseau sémantique du cancer

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Abstract
Francine Saillant: Constructing meaning: the semantic network of cancer. This paper presents the findings of a clinical anthropology study about the cancer experience of a population of francophone patients of Quebec (Canada). The general theme of popular knowledge about cancer is speciflcally investigated. The cancer phenomenon is analysed as a representation and a symbol. Cancer knowledge among patients is regarded as a production of meaning. The data showed that the popular knowledge of cancer is constructed during the course of illness, this knowledge is produced in a dedramatization perspective (cancer is not only a reality mediated by death) and in the connexion with the life story of the ill subject. Psychosocial etiology explains the personal situation of the patient, environmental etiology explains the cancer prevalence in modem society.

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