Introduction to medical anthropology

General data

Course ID:	3102-MMED
Erasmus code / ISCED:	14.7 Kod klasyfikacyjny przedmiotu składa się z trzech do pięciu cyfr, przy czym trzy pierwsze oznaczają klasyfikację dziedziny wg. Listy kodów dziedzin obowiązującej w programie Socrates/Erasmus, czwarta (dotąd na ogół 0) – ewentualne uszczegółowienie informacji o dyscyplinie, piąta – stopień zaawansowania przedmiotu ustalony na podstawie roku studiów, dla którego przedmiot jest przeznaczony. / (0314) Sociology and cultural studies The ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) code has been designed by UNESCO.
Course title:	Introduction to medical anthropology
Name in Polish:	Introduction to medical anthropology
Organizational unit:	Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
Course groups:	Courses in foreign languages
ECTS credit allocation (and other scores):	(not available) Basic information on ECTS credits allocation principles: the annual hourly workload of the student’s work required to achieve the expected learning outcomes for a given stage is 1500-1800h, corresponding to 60 ECTS; the student’s weekly hourly workload is 45 h; 1 ECTS point corresponds to 25-30 hours of student work needed to achieve the assumed learning outcomes; weekly student workload necessary to achieve the assumed learning outcomes allows to obtain 1.5 ECTS; work required to pass the course, which has been assigned 3 ECTS, constitutes 10% of the semester student load. view allocation of credits
Language:	English
Type of course:	optional courses
Short description:	The seminars will be focused on medical anthropology, a fast-growing and dynamic sub-discipline of cultural anthropology. During the classes a historical and current theory will be presented, altogether with milestone field research.
Full description:	Medical anthropology is one of the fastest growing sub-disciplines of cultural anthropology. A number of publications and universities running medical anthropology courses support this statement. The series of seminars aims to introduce the students with classic and current theory and fieldwork in medical anthropology. This knowledge will expand students` perspective on anthropological theory and practice. Furthermore, the issues examined by medical anthropology have a broad applied potential. This might be exception important for anthropologists seeking their place in a job market.
Bibliography:	1. What is medical anthropology? A brief history and basic terms. Cecil G. Helman 2007 Introduction: the scope of medical anthropology, in: Culture, health and illness. Fifth edition, CRC Press, pp. 1-19. 2. What is illness. What is health? Byron Good 1994 Illness representations in medical anthropology: a reading of the field, in: Medicine, rationality and experience. An anthropological perspective, Cambridge University Press, pp. 25-64. 3. Symptoms: cultural or objective? Byron Good 1980 The meaning of symptoms: a cultural hermeneutic model for clinical practice, in: The relevance of social science for medicine, D. Reidel Publishing Company, pp. 165-196. 4. Phenomenology in medical anthropology: body experiences, embodiment, stress and “nerves” Cecil G. Helman 2007 Cultural aspects of stress and suffering, in: Culture, health and illness. Fifth edition, CRC Press, pp. 288-304. Setha M. Low 1994 Embodies metaphors: nerves as lived experience, in: Embodiment and experience: the existential ground of culture and self, ed. T. Csordas, Cambridge University Press, pp. 139-162. 5. Illness and storytelling Roanne Thomas-MacLean 2004 Understanding breast cancer stories via Frank`s narrative types, Social Science & Medicine, 58(2004), pp. 1647-1657. 6. Anthropology of biomedicine Robert A. Hahn, Arthur Klienman 1983 Biomedical practice and anthropological theory: framework and directions, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 12, pp. 305-333. 7. Medical objects and rationality Byron Good 1994 How medicine constructs its object, Medicine, rationality and experience. An anthropological perspective, Cambridge University Press, pp. 65-87. 8. Patient-doctor relations Cecil G. Helman 2007 Doctor-patients interactions, in: Culture, health and illness. Fifth edition, CRC Press, pp. 156-184. 9. Medicalization Peter Conrad 2005 The shifting engines of medicalization, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 45, pp 3-14. 10. Patients` organizations and health social movements: civil health Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski 2004 Social movements in health: an introduction, Sociology of Health & Illness, Vol. 26(6), pp. 679-694. 11. Applied medical anthropology Linda M. Whiteford and Linda A. Bennett Applied anthropology and health and medicine, in: Applied anthropology: Domains of application, Greenwood Publishing Group (eds. S. Keida, van Willigen J.), pp. 119-146. 12. Hospital ethnography Gitte Wind 2008 Negotiated interactive observation: doing fieldwork in hospital settings, Anthropology & Medicine, vol. 15(2), pp. 79-89. Debbi Long et al. 2008 Introduction. When the field is a ward or a clinic: Hospital ethnography, Anthropology & Medicine, vol. 15(2), pp. 71-78. 13. Medical anthropology at home and global medical anthropology, part 1. Bernard Hadolt 1998 Locating difference: a medical anthropology “at home”?, Anthropology & Medicine, vol. 5(3), pp. 311-323. 14. Medical anthropology at home and global medical anthropology, part 2. Cecil G. Helman 2007 Medical anthropology and the global health, in: Culture, health and illness. Fifth edition, CRC Press, pp. 425-456.
Learning outcomes:	Students will be exposed to the classic and current research and theory in medical anthropology. This will significantly expand their knowledge and general perspective on anthropology. The classes will stimulate students to participate in debates focused on health, illness and suffering. This knowledge, as the medical anthropology itself, has a profound potential for further application, also beyond the university.
Assessment methods and assessment criteria:	Maximum 2 absences. Active participation in classes, final test: open questions (3).

This course is not currently offered.

Course descriptions are protected by copyright.
Copyright by University of Warsaw.