Context and uncertainty in narratives: stories of sickness among the Beja of Northeastern Sudan.

The present paper deals with the parents' narratives of sickness and misfortune of their children among the Beja people in the Red Sea Hills, Northeastern Sudan. Drawing on fieldwork focusing parents' health-seeking behavior related to child sicknesses through 1993-95, and combining participant observation and interviews, the aim is firstly to elucidate how markers of uncertainty is a pronounced trait of Beja sickness narratives, inviting listeners to actively engage in the stories, adding to a still scarce but growing literature on narration and uncertainty. Secondly, it aims at relating this narrative style to wider contexts of Beja culture and society, a type of analysis seldom undertaken within the field of medical anthropology. It is argued that although some facets of the lives of Beja people have changed since the time of the fieldwork, the changes are not pronounced and have not changed the cultural environment so as to make the analysis and conclusions of this paper less valid.