By Trang Thu Do

In her thesis, Trang Do examines how breast cancer is understood and managed in Vietnam based on nine-month ethnography using observation, interviews with 37 patients, interviews with 11 healthcare providers, and three focus groups. She demonstrates that people widely perceive breast cancer as a modern disease which vitally requires biomedical interventions to detect and manage its malignancy. She argues that pursuing breast cancer treatment is not merely an event of biological nature but has become a “long-term career” for the sufferers of this illness. Her research highlights the structural vulnerability and health access problems, but also the nuances of women’s agency in their responses to this pathological condition.

Read the full thesis here.