Hope and Uncertainty in Health and Medicine: Imagining the Pragmatics of Medical Potential

In health and medicine, the imagination of what the future holds is an essential element in propelling people into action. This holds true not only at the level of individuals and their everyday activities and more extended live plans, but also for institutionalized practices that unfold within particular socio-political ecologies. Hope and uncertainty are essential affective and knowledge-related modalities of such imagination. This volume brings together contributions from medical anthropologists addressing this within various medical spheres including the pragmatics of hope and uncertainty, the techno-sphere, health management as well as individual and socially distributed emotions.