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shaping of everything that was to come from my efforts. II wou ld not he unreasonab le to
declare that th is dissertation would have been poorer without such refoc using.
Other aspects of my fieldwo rk also forced me to change my ideas . As I have
already mentioned. my interview with Luis made me realize the dangers inherent in
asking for jokes about SARS from people who may have had friends and relatives perish
from the di...ease . Mike proved an excellent and willing source of information in this
aspect. and also gave me insights into the medical community that I might not have
gotten otherwise . And my phone conversation with Benjamin gave me a glimpse into the
very heart of the count ry that was blamed for the outbreak. provid ing me with data that
allowed me to make a ca...e for the existence of para llel reactions to the virus, regardles...
of place . cthnicny, and status. So while my interviews with J CIl . Angel. Rosita. Luis. and
Scny were perhaps the most important in terms of red irecting my thoughts. they we re not
the only factors that prove d critical.
The work that hJS resulted from my researc h effo rts has taken some three yea rs 10
wr ite, and will, I hope, shed light on an area of folklore that has so far gone unnoticed . I
also trust that the theori es and ideas I put forward here are useful to other scholars, as
wel l as 10 stude nts of both folkloristics and medicine .
This wor k is organized JS a series of studies, introd uced hy a large amo unt of
background material to familiarize the reader with the subject and perti nent scho larly
ideas . Chapter two begins this theore tical orientat ion with an overv iew of three key areas
that are especially rele vant in the examination of SA RS. These areas are those of folklore.
the media. and SARS. Taking these topics one at a time. chapte r two first examines the
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