Anthropology 328 - Medical Anthropology Pribilsky

Institution:

Whitman College

Subject:

Description:

Medical anthropology looks at the interface between culture and health in all its forms across the spectrum of societies and cultures. A starting point for this course will be distinguishing physical "disease" from cultural understandings of "illness." We will then explore the ways worldviews, beliefs, and practices shape both the incidence of disease and the experience of illness. Topics may include: the relationship between biology, ecological processes and culture, ethnomedicine, trance and healing, political economic determinants of sickness, cultural assumptions of biomedicine, cross-cultural mental disorders, "culture bound illnesses," gender and health, and cultural conceptions of the body. Throughoutcourse, special attention is paid to the possibilities of ethnographic fieldwork for the critical study of health. In the Fall 2008 version of this course, because it coincides with an election year focusing strongly on issues of universal health care, students will carry out assignments aimed at developing an "ethnography of the uninsured" in the Walla Walla Valley.

Credits:

3.00 - 4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.whitman.edu

Phone Number:

(509) 527-5111

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Semester

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