ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Anorexia Nervosa, Medical Anthropology, Oaxaca City
27 Apr 2015
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Culture specific syndromes: health problem with symptoms associated with a particular culture, underlying causes - stress, fear, shock, victims often socially marginalized. Issues of control, other aspects of their lives that they cannot control; the one thing that they can control is their bodies. May be due to actual increase in the occurrence of this order might also have to do with increase of awareness of this order, and reporting of this disorder. In the past, people possibly did not know they had anorexia and did not report it: not seen in "developing" world until 1990s. Cases of anorexia in africa, for example, were unknown and unreported. Biologically, we"re exactly the same so what is culturally different about these places that leads to higher anorexia in western society: historical evidence for "holy anorexia" 14th and 15th century - evidence that young women would experience some kind of religion contact, express their devotion to god through denying themselves food & water.
