As an introduction to medical anthropology, this course approaches “illness” and “healing” as complex biocultural experiences and narratives. By surveying histories, media discourses, medical anthropological literatures, documentary films, podcasts, and graphic ethnographies, students will learn to identify the complex environmental, economic, political, linguistic, and sociocultural dimensions of health. Topics include; theories of the body in Greek, Chinese, and Ayurvedic medicine traditions; the socialization and training of medical students and physicians; witchcraft and spirits; germ theory; purity and pollution; madness and hysteria; cultures of addiction; relations of care; death and dying; birth and reproductive health; organ transplants; healers; environmental racism; structural violence; clinical trials; global pharmaceuticals; biopower; and the COVID-19 pandemic. As they engage course materials, students will be asked to engage in an autoethnographic project called a health diary, where they will be able to locate cultural narratives discussed in course readings in accounts of their own health.
Healing, Illness, Culture
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