Many of the illnesses I have already described can be seen as expressions of the social order. The sorts of injuries and the common positions of sores follow from the division of labour and other activities which relate to social roles. Illnesses that are explained in terms of Huli concepts of sexuality and development are thought to follow from flouting the norms surrounding marriage, and are seen as evidence for the necessity of these rules. The harmful activities of spirits and God that I consider in the next chapter can be seen as an extension of human affairs, and the ascription of illnesses to causes of this sort is often an expression of the relationships between the individuals concerned. But in this chapter I will present cases of illness which arise most directly from social relations. First, I consider cases of illness attributed to assault; secondly, problems that arise from the emotions; and finally cases of illness attributed to sorcery.

Illnesses attributed to assault

The implications of any injury have a variable relationship with the lesion as it may be defined biologically. Consider two cases. In the first a woman returning from her own garden, slips on a muddy bank, falls and cracks her back against a low branch. In the second, a woman complains to her husband that he is a good-for-nothing, and he strikes her across the back with a heavy stick.