Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- Pragmatics of hope and uncertainty -- The techno‐sphere -- Health management -- Individual and socially distributed emotions -- References -- Part I: Pragmatics of Hope and Uncertainty -- 1 Embracing Uncertainty -- Debates in philosophy -- Uncertainty in the search for certainty -- "Certainty" as a social strategy -- Embracing uncertainty -- Positioning embrace -- References -- 2 Hope, Trust, Medical Action, and Care -- The setting -- Realms of the young -- Clinicians' moral worlds -- A few blind spots -- Realms of the older adults: Are they so different? -- Ms Moretti's story -- The moral threshold of acceptability -- Concluding remarks -- References -- Part II: The Techno‐Sphere -- 3 Self‐Tracking Practices of "Doing Health" -- Introduction -- "Doing health" -- Methods, field sites and theoretical approach -- Self‐tracking in practice: Data discussion -- Introducing the phenomenon of self‐tracking -- Mobilizations of data at the human‐technology interface -- Self‐tracking practices of "doing health" and processes of responsibilization -- Emerging regimes of "doing health" in insurance policy -- Affectivities and uncertainties of self‐tracking practices -- Conclusion -- References -- 4 Precarious Lives, Uncertainty and the Politics of Hope -- Introduction -- A note on methods and the field: Setting the scene -- Novel treatment: Controversy, efficacy and safety of thalidomide -- Seeking Jhanduwalla ilaj: Precarity of care, uncertainty and hope -- Reflections on other potential endings, limits of hope -- Therapeutic innovation, private market and the role of medical pioneers -- Concluding reflections -- References -- 5 Between Uncertainty and Routinization -- Introduction -- "A safe test that may relieve your concerns" -- "Reassuringly routinized" technologies of pregnancy care.

Pregnancy care and the debate around NIPT in Germany -- Methods -- Accounting for Non‐Invasive Prenatal Genetic Testing in Germany -- Dealing with uncertainty: "It's always different after the test" -- Testing against uncertainty: "A safe enough test" -- Discussion: Ways of caring while facing an uncertain future -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 6 "Being a Little Bit Pregnant" -- Introduction -- A note on the study and its participants -- IVF dramaturgy and temporal horizons -- Embryo transfer and waiting for pregnancy -- Making pregnancy real -- Precarious knowledge -- Concluding remarks -- References -- Part III: Health Management -- 7 Solo Living and Cancer in Denmark -- Introduction -- Vulnerability and care politics -- Encounters with living alone -- Solo living in Denmark -- Relational tensions -- A broken self -- Engaging accusations of abandonment -- The architect of human vulnerabilities -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 8 The Uncertain Future of Antibiotics -- Introduction -- Theoretical approach -- Data collection and methods -- The changing nature of infections: Hospitals in the antibiotic era -- Post‐Pasteurian approaches in German hospitals: The work of hygiene teams -- "Preventing infection, accepting colonization" -- Admission: Situating human-bacteria relationships -- Discharge: Calibrating human-bacteria relationships -- A diagnosis, but not a disease -- Conclusion -- References -- 9 Transfigurations of Lived Iatrogenic Risks in Switzerland -- Introduction -- Transfiguration -- Kairos, chronos, and aevum -- Methods -- Findings -- Individuals' various levels of uncertainties pertaining to their polypharmaceutical practices -- Relying on and constructing medical common‐sense discourses -- Individual strategies for navigating uncertainties associated with lived iatrogenic risks.

Medication moderation, avoidance, and compensatory strategies -- Developing experiential expertise -- Living with iatrogenic risks in chronos, kairos and aevum temporalities -- Strategies employed by pharmacists to address uncertainties associated with iatrogenic risks -- Calling the physician to obtain prescription clarifications -- Using clinical decision support systems -- Performing polymedication checks -- Discussion -- Medication users as key actors of the transfiguration of their lived iatrogenic risks -- Lived iatrogenic risks across kairos, chronos, and aevum temporalities -- Pharmacists' practices that transfigure individuals' experiences of iatrogenic risks and their perception of time -- Global transfigurations of lived iatrogenic risks -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 10 "Skyped, Zoomed and WhatsApped" -- Introduction -- Regulating the impossible profession: Governance of online therapy in Austria -- What is psychotherapy? A moment in time in which past, present, and future collide in sensations and interpretations? -- Mental health in modern times -- Auto‐ethnographic observations: The transfiguration of the therapeutic relationship -- Conclusion -- References -- Part IV: Individual and Socially Distributed Emotions -- 11 Affective Processes and the Diagnosing of Chronic Fatigue -- Affect, affective atmosphere, and attunement -- The study -- The CFS landscape in Norway -- The case of Anna: Resonance through hope, fear and passion -- The case of Trond: Transformation of hope -- Concluding discussion -- References -- 12 Fighting for Recovery -- Introduction -- Locked‐in syndrome -- The illness trajectory of LIS -- Methods -- Findings -- Fatal prognosis: "They gave me two months to live" -- No recovery: "No future"? -- Partial recovery: "You have to work hard if you want to recover".

Full recovery: "The power of the will" -- Final considerations -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 13 Figurations of Feasting on Fermented Food in Four Remote Regions of Switzerland -- Preamble -- Government‐instigated health promotion: Initial reflections -- Figurations of fermentation: Some theory -- The argument: From the militant combat of microbes … -- … to figurations of fermentation -- Figurations of fermentation -- 1. Wine and cheese from cool caves in the Ticino -- 2. "La goutte" dans le Petit‐Val: The dew‐drop that effects social heat -- 3. Nus colliains (we hold together)-Engadin mobil -- 4. A baked cake in place of a braided white bread -- Discussion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Local histories -- Appendix -- Contributors.