ANTH 3345 - Health, Medicine & Curing

Institution:

Fordham University

Subject:

Description:

This course discusses social and cultural practices that influence health, well-being, and recovery from disease and injury. Among the topics explored: the cultural construction of certain diseases and physiological process in America; the impact of AIDS on African and Western society; the link between an exotic disease like Kuru (New Guinea) and other neurological diseases such as Creutzfeld-Jacob and the so-called "mad-cow" disease in Europe; and issues of mental health and ethnopsychiatry such as Salem witchcraft and the incidence of anorexia in modern and medieval times. The course discusses social and cultural practices that influence health, well-being, and recovery from disease and injury in a comparative perspective. Among the topics explored will be: the cultural and historical construction of certain diseases and physiological processes in various parts of the world including America; the health repercussions of culture contacts and modernization in the spread and/or genesis of new diseases (e.g. Syphilis in the 16th century, or AIDS in contemporary society); the social effects of Kuru, a neurological disease thought to be unique to a single tribe in Papua-New Guinea, but that has been found to be closely related to Creutzfeldt-Jacob and to the so-called "mad cow" disease recently spreading in Europe; issues of culture-bound syndromes in mental health and ethnopsychiatry (e.g. Voodoo death, latah-types disorder, anorexia nervosa), as well as practical and spiritual ethnomedicine such as Ayurvedic, Chinese or American Indian systems of healing. Films will also be shown. 4.000 Credit Hours 4.000 Lecture hours 0.000 Lab hours 0.000 Other hours Levels: Undergraduate, Post Baccalaureate Schedule Types: Lecture Undergraduate Colleges College Sociology and Anthropology Department Course Attributes: Globalism

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.fordham.edu

Phone Number:

(718) 817-1000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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