Abstract

This presentation aims to unpack how the notion of risk is constructed in the practice of cervical cancer prevention in Chongqing, China. In brief, cervical cancer prevention is a two-step procedure — vaccination and screening — and needs governmental promotion, medical intervention, and individual participation. Although these three practices are usually intersected, because the main actors are different, the notions of risk they generate in their practices varies. Social scientists have long revealed to us that our notions of risk is based on knowledge and everyday life. In this presentation, I take a relational approach (Boholm 1996, 2003; Boholm and Corvellec 2011) to analyze how risk is differently constructed in three practices of cervical cancer prevention in Chongqing. In section one, by investigating central-level and local-level policies and projects for cervical cancer prevention, I discuss how the government make connections between cervical cancer and social development. From a top-down perspective, cervical cancer is the risk object which sets social development at risk. However, from a bottom-up perspective, this relationship could be vise versa. In section two, by observing medical intervention in a gynecology clinic, I discuss how medical practitioners make connections between cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV). Theoretically, the causal relationship between HPV infection and cervical cancer is clear. But, it is never straightforward in real-life cases. Medical practitioners are not only affected by the sociocultural environment but also trapped in the medical system, when assessing risk. In the last section, by interviewing women who actively participated in HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening, I discuss how Chinese women build connections between HPV and their lives. Initially, women understand that HPV is the risk object which sets their health at risk. As women get more involved in preventive practices, however, they perceive themselves as the risk object that may put their loved ones in danger. By unpacking these three different yet intertwined conceptualizations of risk in cervical cancer prevention, this presentation aims to better understand how health risk is understood in China today.

Bio

WU Yuehan is a Ph.D candidate in gender studies and anthropology at CUHK. Her research interests include medical anthropology, science and technology studies, feminist theory, and the anthropology of China. Her current research is about cervical cancer prevention in southwest China.