Synopses & Reviews
The editors of the third edition of the seminal textbook Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology bring it completely up to date for both instructors and students. The collection of 49 readings (17 of them new to this edition) offers extensive background description and exposes students to the breadth of theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives and issues in the field of medical anthropology. The text provides specific examples and case studies of research as it is applied to a range of health settings: from cross-cultural clinical encounters to cultural analysis of new biomedical technologies and the implementation of programs in global health settings. The new edition features:
-a major revision that eliminates many older readings in favor of more fresh, relevant selections;
-a new section on structural violence that looks at the impact of poverty and other forms of social marginalization on health;
-an updated and expanded section on and#147;Conceptual Tools,and#8221; including new research and ideas that are currently driving the field of medical anthropology forward (such as epigenetics and syndemics);
-new chapters on climate change, Ebola, PTSD among Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, eating disorders, and autism, among others;
-recent articles from Margaret Mead Award winners Sera Young, Seth Holmes, and Erin Finley, along with new articles by such established medical anthropologists as Paul Farmer and Merrill Singer.
Synopsis
This third edition of Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology, thoroughly updated and including 17 new selections and articles written for this volume on such themes as Ebola, PTSD, autism, and obesity, remains the seminal textbook in the field.
About the Author
Peter J. Brown is a medical anthropologist holding a joint faculty appointment in anthropology and global health at Emory University. He has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Medical Anthropology and has won several national teaching and mentoring awards. His research interests are in culture and disease ecology, with particular focus on malaria and obesity. He is co-editor of The Anthropology of Infectious Disease: International Health Perspectives (Routledge, 1998), Applying Anthropology (McGraw-Hill, 2011), Applying Cultural Anthropology (McGraw-Hill, 2012), and the two previous editions of Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology. He is senior academic advisor to the Emory Global Health Institute and served on a malaria-related Scientific Advisory Committee for the World Health Organization.
Svea Closser is associate professor of anthropology and director of the Global Health Program at Middlebury College. Her professional interests are focused on the interaction between global health policy and local health systems. Closserandrsquo;s recent research projects include a seven-country study of polio eradication and health systems, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a study of ground-level health staff in Ethiopia, funded by the National Science Foundation. She is the author of Chasing Polio in Pakistan: Why the Worldandrsquo;s Largest Public Health Initiative May Fail (Vanderbilt University Press, 2010), which won Vanderbilt University Pressandrsquo;s Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize for the best project in the area of medicine.
Table of Contents
*indicates new material for this edition To the Instructor To the Student Part I: Understanding Medical Anthropology: Biosocial and Cultural Approaches Introduction *Peter Brown and Svea Closser, Medical Anthropology: An Introduction to the Fields BIOSOCIAL APPROACHES Evolution, Health and Medicine Conceptual Tools: Evolution, Health and Medicine *Jabr, How to Really Eat like a Hunter-Gatherer *Howard Chiou, What Is Evolutionary Medicine and How Can It Be Useful? *Sera Young, Pica Human Biological Variation Conceptual Tools: Human Biological Variation *Alan Goodman, Why Genes Donand#8217;t Count (new title)* Nina Jablonski, Skin: Its Biology in Black and White History of Health Conceptual Tools: Bioarchaeology and the History of Health Conceptual Tools: Cultural and Political Ecologies of Disease *George Armelagos, Peter Brown, and Beth Turner. Evolutionary, Historical and Political Economic Perspectives on Health and Disease Thomas McKeown, Determinants of Health *Merrill Singer and Hans Baer, Applied Medical Anthropology and the Adverse Health Effects of Climate Change CULTURAL APPROACHES Structural Violence Conceptual Tools: Structural Violence *Peter Brown, Microparasites and Macroparasites *Seth Holmes, and#147;Oaxacans Like to Work Bent Overand#8221;: The Naturalization of Social Suffering among Berry Farm Workers *Paul Farmer, Diary Entry on Ebola *Merill Singer, Does America Really Want to Solve its Drug Problem? Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking: Maternal Detachment and Infant Survival in a Brazilian Shantytown Ethnomedicine and Healers Conceptual Tools: Ethnomedicine and Healers Conceptual Tools: Belief and Healing George Foster, Disease Etiologies in Non-Western Medical Systems *Pamela Erickson, The Healing Lessons of Ethnomedicine Claude Levi-Strauss, The Sorcerer and His Magic Daniel Moerman, Cultural Variations in the Placebo Effect: Ulcers, Anxiety, and Blood Pressure Robert Hahn, The Nocebo Phenomenon: Concept, Evidence and Implications for Public Health The Meaning and Experience of Illness Conceptual Tools: The Meaning and Experience of Illness Nancy Waxler, Learning to Be a Leper: A Case Study in the Social Construction of Illness *Linda Hunt, Strategic Suffering in the Illness Narratives of Mexican Cancer Patients Robert Murphy, The Damaged Self Biomedicine, Technology, and the Body Conceptual Tools: Biomedicine, Technology, and the Body *Bisan Sahli, Beyond the Doctor's White Coat: Science, Ritual, and Healing in American Medicine Rayna Rapp, Accounting for Amniocentesis Marcia Inhorn, Religion and Reproductive Technologies *Monir Moniruzzaman, Spare Parts for Sale Margaret Lock, Inventing a New Death and Making it Believable Culture, Illness, and Mental Health Conceptual Tools: Culture, Illness, and Mental Health Arthur Kleinman, Do Psychiatric Disorders Differ in Different Cultures? Arthur Rubel, The Epidemiology of a Folk Illness: Susto in Hispanic America *Roy Richard Grinker, What in the World is Autism? *Erin Finley, Of Men and Messages *Oand#8217;Connor and Van Esterlik, Demedicalizing Anorexia PART II: APPLYING MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Working with the Culture of Biomedicine Conceptual Tools: Working with the Culture of Biomedicine Farmer, Niyeze, Stulac, and Keshavjee, Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine Berlin and Fowkes, A Teaching Framework for Cross-Cultural Health Care Janelle Taylor, Confronting and#147;Cultureand#8221; in Medicineand#8217;s and#147;Culture of No Cultureand#8221; Kleinman and Benson, Anthropology in the Clinic: The Problem of Biomedicine and How to Fix it Stigma Conceptual Tools: Stigma *Joan Ablon, The Nature of Stigma and Medical Conditions Gaylene Becker, Coping with Stigma: Lifelong Adaptation of Deaf People Barrett and Brown, Stigma in the Time of Influenza Culture, Ethnicity, and Health Care Conceptual Tools: Culture, Ethnicity and Health Care Alan Harwood, The Hot-Cold Theory of Disease CDC, Health Beliefs and Compliance with Prescribed Medication for Hypertension Singer, Valentin, Baer, and Jia, Why