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Exploring Medical Anthropology 1/e
Donald Joralemon
Published September 1998 by Allyn & Bacon
Copyright 1999, 158 pp., Paper
ISBN: 0-205-27006-9
List Price:
$36.80
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Summary

Drawing on the author's research on Peruvian shamanism and organ transplantation in the United States, this book is a concise and readable introduction to medical anthropology. The author uses ethnographic material from South America and the U.S. to illustrate his key points: 1) that biology and culture matter equally in the human experience of disease; 2) that the political economy is a primary epidemiological factor; 3) that ethnography is an essential tool to understand human suffering due to disease; and 4) that medical anthropology can help to alleviate human suffering. KEY TOPICS: Major topics include biological, social, and cultural interconnections in medicine and disease; anthropological questions and methods in the study of sickness and healing; healers and the healing professions; applications of medical anthropology; and ethical issues. MARKET: For anyone interested in learning how biology and culture interact in the study and treatment of disease.

Features

  • Provides a readable and engaging introduction to the field.
  • Utilizes well developed examples from the author's own research. These extended case studies appear in Chapters 3, 4, 7, and 8.
  • Gives attention to the major debates in the field of medical anthropology, clarifying the contrasts among the ecological, interpretive, and critical approaches. By showing how different theoretical perspectives can be applied to one case, students gain a fuller understanding of how each view contributes to a complete picture.
  • Gives students a sense of how medical anthropology relates to the resolution of health problems, rather than just the academic analysis of them, and discusses the ethical issues this raises (Ch. 7).
  • Introduces the special perspectives of medical anthropology (Ch. 1).
  • Focuses on the cholera outbreak of the 1990s in Peru (case study) to review the theoretical models and current debates in medical anthropology (Chs. 3 and 4).
  • Discusses how medical anthropology understands the position of healers—folk and biomedical—in the contemporary world, and the relationship between medical anthropologists and biomedical professionals (Chs. 5 and 6).
  • Concludes with a look at the relevance of medical anthropology to contemporary health issues and career paths in the field (Ch. 8).
  • Uses vignettes to enliven the text (beginning of Chs. 1, 2, 5, 6 and the end of Ch. 7).
  • Includes a glossary of key terms.
Table of Contents

Each chapter concludes with “Suggested Readings” and “Notes.”

1.What's So Cultural about Disease?

Culture in Medicine.

Development of Medical Anthropology.

Medical Anthropology Today.

Summary: Placing Medical Anthropology among the Social Sciences of Medicine.



2.Anthropological Questions and Methods in the Study of Sickness and Healing.

Studying Shamans in Peru.

Studying Medicine in the United States.

Summary: The Anthropological Vision.



3.Recognizing Biological, Social, and Cultural Interconnections: Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on a Cholera Epidemic.

Thinking about Epidemics.

History and Biology of Cholera.

Epidemiological Accounts of Peru's Cholera Epidemic.

Evolution and the Ecological Framework.

Cholera and the Evolutionary Framework.

Medical Anthropology Embraces the Ecological/Evolutionary Model.



4.Expanding the Vision of Medical Anthropology: Critical and Interpretive Views of the Cholera Epidemic.

The Political-Economy of Cholera.

Political-Economic versus Ecological/Evolutionary Perspectives.

Interpretive View of Cholera.

Taking a Broader, Inclusive Perspective.



5.Healers and the Healing Professions.

Healing Roles: Organizing the Diversity.

Authority of Healers.

Authority in the Folk Health Sector: The Position of Peruvian Curanderos.

Authority in the Professional Health Care Sector: The Case of Biomedicine.

Challenges to Biomedical Authority.

Authority of Biomedicine in Non-Western Countries.

Conclusion.



6.Applying Medical Anthropology.

Medical Anthropology in International Development: A Brief History.

Work of Applied Medical Anthropologists in International Contexts.

Applying Medical Anthropology in the United States.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Applied Medical Anthropology under Attack.

Personal Reflections.

Conclusion.



7.Anthropology and Medical Ethics.

Medical Ethics: A Comparative Framework.

Medical Ethics beyond Biomedicine.

Development of Bioethics in the United States.

Social Sciences and Bioethics.

Social Science: Out of the Closet.



8.A Look Back and a Glance Ahead.

Advantages of Medical Anthropology.

Thinking Anthropologically about HIV/AIDS.

Directions for Future Work in Medical Anthropology.

Conclusion.



Glossary.


References.


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