由「醫療體系」或「地方知識系統」的概念架構，所進行的資料分析與詮釋，往往遺漏了報導人在「敘述」內容中，所可能流露的個人身體、心靈的經驗、情感、追憶，個人所關注的生活世界、人際關聯；以及在敘述的形式結構上，如故事風格般的情節。後者有別於「理性」、「系統性」的知識論下的文化解釋，提供另一角度的文化描述及了解的可能性。在此出發點下，筆者經由重新閱讀自己在1992-1994年期間，所記錄的阿美族醫療民族誌資料，以探討阿美族老人回憶的童年疾病經驗敘述。在形式結構上，這些敘述具有的特點為：（一）、由童年的具體病痛經驗談起，（二）、回溯式的敘述，（三）、敘述的推展和研究者的發問有互動性，（四）、敘述焦點由「病」轉到「人」，（五）、敘述包含不同程度的「日常性」與「神奇性」，（六）、敘述的具象化、使說者與聽者進入「觀看」童年經驗的情境。在敘述的主題上，「身體」與「人際關係」是較為突顯的兩個主題。筆者以為，藉由著重「身體」比喻的疾病經驗敘述，阿美族老人充分表達其童年回憶中，生病孩童對照顧者深刻的情感體驗。再者，個人發聲的童年疾病經驗敘述所突顯「人際關聯」的主題，則不僅回應日據時期以來的學者對阿美族社會的理解--重視及追求人際關聯及社會和諧；同時也展現出在阿美族個人的生命價值中，蘊含著「個人」與「社會」兩者間，始終相糾結的特點。

Using the narrative perspective alternative, this paper tries to describe and analyze how the reported illness experiences of some Ami elders (one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Eastern Taiwan) conveys the meaningful connections between people's illness experiences and their childhood. Compared to the framework of “medical system” or “local knowledge system,” the narrative analysis offers a chance to “make stories out of fieldwork data, ... a unique way of making the facts comprehensible. Narrative order links anthropological and literacy narratives. And it is precisely the order and style of their narratives and texts that suggest a narrative future” (Klein 2000). Re-analyzing my previous ethno-medical field data on an Ami tribal village in eastern Taiwan (1992-1994), this researcher focused on some of the Ami elders' recollections of their illness experiences when they were young children. In general, these narratives contain several formal features: beginning with a concrete illness experience; retrospective narrations; interactions between narrator and interviewer; narrative focus shifting from “illness” to “person”; “normality” coexisting with “mystery” in the plots; and objectification of the narrative. “Body” and “inter-personal relationships” are two thematic emphases in the narratives of the Ami elders. “Body” images give voice to the emotional experience between the sick children and their caregivers. Moreover, the theme of “inter-personal relationships” reflects, as well as reproduces, the Ami social ideal, namely striving for the harmonious between individual and society.