This article oflers both a contribution to the ethnography of ethnomedicine among the Kulina Indians of western Amazon& region in which there has been little ethnomedical researe- an extended illustrationof the value of the concept of "personhood” in the analysis of ethnomedical beliefs and practices. I argue that the current medical anthropological fiation on the Body is neither good ethnography nor productive theory, and I use the Kulina example to illustrate how the cultural dimensions of personhood provide a more satisfactory work for the understanding of illness. Kulina conceptions of illness are closely linked to the substances and processes through which personhood is acquired, expressed. and transformed. I consider the two categories of illness in Kulina ethnomedicine, and focus special attention on the more serious of these: potentially fatal illnesses that are linked to witchcraft and to the violations of prohibitions. I suggest how these illnesses serve as Ianguages for the simultaneous negotiation of social issues and personhood. Keyword: ethnomedicine, Amazonian Indians, personhood.