Medical Anthropology

Increasingly more aspects of people's lives have come to be defined as an object of medical intervention under the global expansion of biomedicine. The definition of a condition as a medical problem, its perceived causes and meanings, the institutions involved, the preferred treatments and their accessibility are all locally rooted and culturally framed.  This course engages with central concepts and debates in the anthropology of health, illness and medicine. It considers the specificity of local therapeutic communities as well as the processes that connect such systems of knowledge and practice. The production of medical knowledge and healthcare systems – including biomedicine – are also examined, for they, and their social actors, do not exist outside of culture, society and power relations.
 
Drawing on both classic and contemporary studies, students will be introduced to different theoretical approaches and consider their value for specific research topics. Topics addressed will include the meaning of disease and healing; theories of embodiment, disability and reproduction; medicalization; new medical technologies; and global health. Finally, we will consider how the study of medical knowledge and practice provide a prism to understand social relations and contribute to more general debates concerning issue such as nature-nurture, structural violence; modernity, globalization or commodification.

 

Format

Weekly sessions include lectures introducing conceptual building blocks and key debates, followed by student lead sessions dedicated to subtopics and case studies. Students are required to come prepared and share insights and questions based on their reading accounts, complete two writing exercises and prepare one presentation and discussion session in teamwork with colleagues. Lectures and readings are occasionally supplemented by documentaries and guest lectures.