An Anthropology of 'Cancer Villages': villagers' perspectives and the politics of responsibility.

This paper examines how villagers in rural Sichuan understand the development of cancer, how they attempt to make sense of why it seems widespread and of why it affects particular individuals. Lay aetiologies of cancer such as negative emotions, smoking, consuming alcohol and preserved vegetables are addressed in order to contextualise environmentally related factors, and explain why they may or not be resorted to. With reference to ethnographic examples, I argue that awareness of pollution's effects on health can only gain strength when it is consonant with locals' experience and moral parameters and when it is perceived to be productive in attracting media attention and obtaining redress from various levels of state bureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]