ANTHROP 1AA3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Ethnomedicine, Biomedicine, Somatization
14 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Illness and Death
Ethnomedicine
• In the 1960's, ethnomedicine first referred to nn-Western health systems and was synonymous with the
now abandoned term primitive medicine
• Contemporary Western biomedicine (WBM), a healing approach based on modern western science that
emphasizes technology in diagnosing and treating health problems related to the human body, is an
ethnomedical system as well
Defining and Classifying Health Problems
• Western labels, which biomedically trained experts accept as true, accurate and universal, often do
not correspond to the labels in other cultures
• One set of concepts that medical anthropologists use to sort out the many cross-cultural labels and
perceptions is the disease-illness dichotomy.
• In this model, disease refers to a biological health problem that is objective and universal, such as a
bacterial or viral infection or a broken arm
• Illness refers to culturally specific perceptions and experiences of a health problem
• Medical anthropologists study both disease and illness and they show how both must be understood
within their cultural contexts
• A first step in ethmedical research is to learn how people label, categorize, and classify health
problems
• Depending on the culture, these may be bases for lbelling and classyfing health problems
o Cause
o Vector (means of transmission)
o Affected body part
o Symptoms
• Often knowledgable elders are the keepers of ethnomedical knowledge and they pass it down
through oral traditions
• In western biomedicine, panels of medical experts have to agree about how to label and classify
health problems according to scientific criteria
• Western medical manuals are biased towards disease that western biomedicine recoginizes and they
ignore health problems that other cultures recognize
• Somatisation or embodiment, refers to the process through which the body absorbs social stress and
manifests symptoms of suffering
Ethno-Etiologies
• Refers to a cross-culturally specific causal explanation for health problems and suffering
• Structural suffering or social suffering refers to health problems caused by powerful forces such as
poverty, war, famine and forced migration
Healing Ways
• Community Healing
o Private healing addresses bodily ailments in social isolation
o Community healing encompasses the social context as crucial to healing
find more resources at oneclass.com
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o Many non-western systems use community healing
• Humoral Healing
o Is based on a philosophy of balance among certain elements within the body and within the
person's environment
o In this system, food and drugs have different effects on the body and are classified as either
heating or cooling
o Diseases are the result of bodily imbalances-too much heat or coolness-that must be
counteracted through dietary and behavioural changes or medicine that will restore balance
o Practiced for thousands of years in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and much of Asia
• Healers
o Some people become recognized as having special abilities to diagnose and treat health
problems
o Specialists include
➢ Midwives
➢ Bonesetters (those who reset bones)
➢ Shamans or shamankas (male or female healers, who mediate between humans and the
spirit world)
➢ Herbalists
➢ General practitioner
➢ Psychiatrists
➢ Those in the medical field
• Healing Substances
o Phytotherapy is healing through the use of plants
o Minerals are also used for prevention and healing
Three Theoretical Approaches
The Ecological/Epidemiological Approach
• Examines how aspects of the natural environment interacts with culture to cause health problems
and to influence their spread throughout the population
• Urbanization also has important effects on health
• Historical trauma refers to the intergenerational transfer of the emotional and psychological effects
of colonialism from parents to children
• It reveals how certain categories of people are at risk of contracting particular diseases within
various contexts in historical times and the present
The Interpretivist Approach
• Highlights symbols and meanings in people's expression of suffering and healing ppractices
• Healing systems provide meaning to people who are experiencing seemingly meaningless forms of
suffering
• Placebo effect (or meaning effect) is a positive result from a healing method due to a symbolic or
otherwise nonmaterial factor
Critical Medical Anthropology
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
In this model, disease refers to a biological health problem that is objective and universal, such as a bacterial or viral infection or a broken arm. Ethno-etiologies: refers to a cross-culturally specific causal explanation for health problems and suffering, structural suffering or social suffering refers to health problems caused by powerful forces such as poverty, war, famine and forced migration. Shamans or shamankas (male or female healers, who mediate between humans and the spirit world) Those in the medical field: healing substances, phytotherapy is healing through the use of plants, minerals are also used for prevention and healing. Globalization and change: many people in north america and europe are turning to forms of non-western and non-biomedical healing such as acupuncture and massage. New infectious diseases: new contexts for exposure and contagion are created through increased international travel and migration, deforestation, and development projects, among others.
