ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Zoonosis, Atherosclerosis, Degenerative Disease
8 May 2018
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Department
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ILLNESS AND DISEASE
Lecture
- Medical Anthropology
o The study of human health and disease, health care systems, biocultural adaptation
o Traditionally a subdivision of cultural anthropology
o Ethnomedicine: cross-cultural study of sickness, health, and health systems
- Health System
o All cultures have a health system:
▪ Perceptions and beliefs about the body
▪ Classifications of health problems
▪ Prevention measures
▪ Healing/healers
▪
Anthropologists perspective on disease and health
- Health
o Many dimensional
o “a state of complete social, psychological, and physical well-being”
o The concept of well-being is specific to, and meaningful within, a set of local conditions
- Disease: biological health problem; universal (eg measles)
o Physiological alteration that impairs function in some way
o Mostly objective across cultures; with some exceptions
o Common diseases
▪ Injury
• Damage to anatomy
▪ Infection
• Microorganisms that spread and pose a challenge to the body
▪ Malnutrition
• Disorders that stem from lack or excess amounts of nutrients, vitamins, minerals,
carbs, proteins, and fat
▪ Genetic
• Mutations may occur
• Common in inbred populations
▪ Chronic
• Chronic disease that stems form genetic factors, but most result from lifelong
behaviours.
• Cardiovascular, cancer from smoking, type II diabetes etc
▪ Psychological or Behavioural
• Common among humans
• Caused by biological or social
• Treated using neurotransmitters
- Illness: perceptions and experiences of a health problem
o Subjective experience of symptoms and suffering, and it motivates changes in behaviour to
alleviate the discomfort (altering diet etc)
o There are culturally specific ways of being ill and expressing that experience
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- EXPLANATORY MODELS
o Explanatory models for why we get sick are products of culture
o Hippocrates (ancient Greek)
▪ Based on balance of the humours
• Illness came from being “out of
humour”
• Excess heat & moisture (fever, sweat,
cough)
• Bloodletting restored balance!
• No disease specificity
▪ Hot-cold theory of Disease
• Important aspect of Latin-
American folk medical practice
• Emphasis on a body in balance
▪ Germ Theory
• Microscope innovations
• Kock & Pasteur
• Disease Specificity: Different
diseases caused by different germs
• Disease cause by damage to tissues
▪ Western Biomedicine
• Body as a machine, Repair body
• Emphasis on microorganisms
• Treatment = kill microorganism -> eliminate disease
▪ Sustos
• Spain and Portugal, Central & South America
• ‘Soul Loss’ – separation of soul and body
• Cure = length egg ritual
• Symptoms – anxiety, insomnia, fever, diarrhoea, depression …
▪ Miasma
• Harmful air and environment
• Feature of the environment
- Healing & Healers
o Special ability to diagnose & treat
o Personal Healing
o Community healing
▪ Ex Ju/hoasi
o Healers
▪ Ability
▪ Training
▪ Certification
▪ Expect payment
- Cultural Specific Syndrome: Anorexia Nervosa
o Industrial, Western societies
Ancient Egyptian Health System
- Channel System
o Blockage or
misdirection of blood,
air, feces, & water in
the body causes
disease
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Medical anthropology: the study of human health and disease, health care systems, biocultural adaptation, traditionally a subdivision of cultural anthropology, ethnomedicine: cross-cultural study of sickness, health, and health systems. All cultures have a health system: perceptions and beliefs about the body, classifications of health problems, prevention measures, healing/healers. Health: many dimensional, a state of complete social, psychological, and physical well-being , the concept of well-being is specific to, and meaningful within, a set of local conditions. Disease: biological health problem; universal (eg measles: physiological alteration that impairs function in some way, mostly objective across cultures; with some exceptions, common diseases. Explanatory models: explanatory models for why we get sick are products of culture, hippocrates (ancient greek, based on balance of the humours. Illness came from being out of humour : excess heat & moisture (fever, sweat, cough, bloodletting restored balance, no disease specificity, hot-cold theory of disease.
