Beliefs and accounts of illness. Views from two Cantonese-speaking communities in England

This paper examines lay accounts of illness and health gathered by means of eight focus groups - from people living in two Cantonese-speaking communit ies in England. The authors concentrate on the manner in which Cantonese sp eakers recruit and mobilise various agents - such as traditional Chinese me dicine (TCM), spirits, demons, food and the weather - to describe and expla in aspects of their bodily and mental wellbeing. As well as providing infor mation on what Cantonese speakers say about such matters, the data are also used to indicate how a concentration on 'accounts', rather than on 'belief s', enables sociology to side-step a concern with the subjective and psycho logical and to focus, instead, on what is publicly available and verifiable .