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Anthropology 174: Culture, Health, and Healing
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Instructor: Jeanne L. Shea, Ph.D, Associate Professor
Class Meetings: Spring 2006, Mon., Wed., Fri., 12:20-1:10, Angell B-112
Office Hours: 515 Williams Hall, Wed. 2:00-3:00 pm, Fri.1:30-2:30 pm
Contact Info.: jeanne.shea@uvm.edu, Phone: 802-656-3181, Fax: 802-656-4406
Mailing Address: Department of Anthropology, 515 Williams Hall,
Course Description
This course provides an introduction to medical anthropology, an important subfield of anthropology which involves both academic research and practical everyday applications.
Medical anthropology brings social and cultural perspectives to the exploration of health and illness experiences, healer-patient interactions, healing traditions and therapeutic practices, and the political economy of health and health care across different cultures throughout the world.
Central issues explored in the course include the influence of culture on people's views and experiences of health and illness, how sociocultural factors involved in healer-patient interactions can affect treatment efficacy and client satisfaction, the cultural assumptions underlying various healing traditions and therapeutic practices, and the ways in which politics and economics can affect people's access to health and health care.
Prerequisite: Anthropology 21 or permission of instructor.
Professor Profile
Member
of the faculty at the
Assigned Work
Assignments, Due Dates, and Grade Distribution
Class Participation (c.p.) At each class meeting 20%
Quiz I Wed., Feb. 15 20%
Quiz II Fri., Mar. 17 20%
Quiz III Mon.,
Apr. 17 20%
Term Paper Fri., May 12, 4:00 pm 20%
Presentation of Term Paper Fri., May 12, 4:00-7:00 pm part of c.p.
Extra Credit Fri., May 12, 4:00 pm +1-5 pts on
overall grade
Assigned
Books:
Cecil Helman, Culture, Health, and Illness,
Anne Fadiman,
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,
Websites:
Society for Medical Anthropology website: www.medanthro.net
World Health Organization website, www.who.int
Reserve readings:
M. Lock, “The Making of
Menopause,” in Margaret Lock, Encounters
with Aging: Mythologies of Menopause in
J. Shea,
“Sexual “Liberation’ and the Older Woman in
J. Richardson, “Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Socially Constructed or Evidence-Based?,” Healthcarepapers, 2003(3:5): 30-6.
M. R. Tonelli, et al., “Why Alternative Medicine Cannot Be Evidence-Based,” Academic Medicine, December 2001(76:12): 1213-20.
M.J. Verhoef, et al., “Assessing Efficacy of Complementary Medicine: Adding Qualitative Research Methods to the ‘Gold Standard’,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, June 2002(8:3): 275-81.
J. Shea, “Applying Evidence-Based Medicine to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Debate and Strategy,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, in press, 2006.
J. Millen, “Who Is Growing? Who Is Dying?” in Jim Kim, et al., Dying For Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor, Common Courage Press, 2000.
Additional articles TBA
Description of Assignments
Class participation
Attendance and prompt arrival at all class meetings. Completion of assigned readings prior to class. Attentive, considerate conduct during class. Active, considerate participation in the Final Portfolio Presentation session.
Quiz I
Multiple-choice exam based on content from readings and lectures to date. 50 minutes in class. Open-book, open-note.
Quiz II
Multiple-choice exam based on content from readings and lectures to date. 50 minutes in class. Open-book, open-note.
Quiz III
Multiple-choice exam based on content from readings and lectures to date. 50 minutes in class. Open-book, open-note.
Term paper on semester project
Throughout the semester, each student will conduct independent research on some aspect of health, illness, healing, and/or health care and write a term paper on their findings. The term paper should analyze scholarly research materials on health, illness, healing, and/or health care from a cultural, social, economic, and/or political perspective. The project can deal with any culture(s) or societi(es), and some element of cross-cultural comparison is recommended. The paper should explore issues and theoretical debates from the field of medical anthropology, and it must analyze and cite material from assigned readings, lectures, and class discussions and from at least three outside books or scholarly articles. Term papers should follow the “Guidelines for the Evaluation of Papers,” a handout with tips for writing a paper in anthropology which will be distributed in class. The term paper should be 7-8 pages, in 12 point font., with 1-inch margins, plus an outline, thesis page, and an annotated bibliography.
Presentation of term paper
Each student is expected to bring a copy of their completed term paper to the exam session. During the exam session, each class member will share and discuss their term paper with several of their classmates and then write a reflection on what they learned from hearing about the content of their classmates' papers and what they learned from discussing the content of their own papers with their classmates. Students may also add neatly hand-written corrections or additions to their own papers in black ink at this time if they choose to do so.
Extra credit
Attend three approved scholarly events related to medical anthropology outside our class meetings, and write a five-page report summarizing the main content of the events and analyzing their relation to what you have learned about medical anthropology in this class. Email Professor Shea for approval of the events you would like to attend for extra credit purposes. Turn in your extra credit report with your term paper.
Schedule
Introduction
Wed., Jan. 18 Lecture: Course Orientation
Fri., Jan 20 Lecture: Overview of Medical Anthropology
Mon., Jan. 23 Lecture: Theory and Methods in Medical Anthropology
Wed., Jan. 25 Lecture: Medical Anthropology as a Scholarly Community
Fri., Jan. 27 Lecture: Ideas and Resources for Student Term Papers
Experiences of Mind and Body, Health and Illness
Mon., Jan. 30 Lecture: Cultural Construction of Anatomy and Physiology
Wed., Feb. 1 Lecture: Gender and Medicalization of the Lifecycle
Fri., Feb. 3 Lecture: Cross-Cultural Variation in Experiences of Menopause
Mon., Feb. 6 Lecture: Pain and Culture
Wed., Feb. 8 Lecture: Cross-Cultural Psychiatry
Fri., Feb. 10 Lecture: Stress and Culture
Mon., Feb. 13 Lecture: Chinese Views of Sex and Aging
Wed., Feb. 15 Quiz I
Fri., Feb. 17 Quiz Results
Mon., Feb. 20 President's Day Holiday – No class
Health Care and Healer-Patient Interactions
Wed., Feb. 22 Lecture: Caring and Curing: The Sectors of Health Care
Fri., Feb. 24 Lecture: Issues in Healer-Patient Interactions
Mon., Feb. 27 Lecture: Introduction to Case Study of Hmong Patient
Wed., Mar. 1 Lecture: Difficulties in Cross-Cultural Communication
Fri., Mar. 3 Lecture: Working with Interpreters
Mon., Mar. 6 Lecture: Legal and Ethical
Quandaries
Wed., Mar. 8 Lecture: Issues of Blame in Medical Encounters
Fri., Mar. 10 Lecture: Explanatory Models and the Eight Questions
Mon., Mar. 13 Lecture: The Cultural Competency Movement in Biomedicine
Wed., Mar. 15 Lecture: Dilemmas in Cultural Competency
Fri., Mar. 17 Quiz II
Mar. 20-24 Spring Break - No Classes
Mon., Mar. 27 Quiz Results
Complementary and Alternative Healing Traditions
Wed., Mar. 29 Lecture: Overview of Alternative Healing Traditions, Part I
Fri., Mar. 31 Lecture: Overview
of Alternative Healing Traditions, Part II
Mon., Apr. 3 Lecture: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Theory
Wed., Apr. 5 Lecture: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Practice
Fri., Apr. 7 Lecture: Issues of Efficacy, Integration, and Evidence
Political Economy of Health and Health Care
Mon., Apr. 10 Lecture: Culture and
Epidemiology
Wed., Apr. 12 Lecture: Global Inequalities in Health
Fri., Apr. 14 Lecture: Inequalities in Access to Health Care
Fri., Apr. 16 Lecture: Alternative Health Care Systems
Mon. Apr. 17 Quiz III
Wed. Apr. 19 Quiz Results
Research Skills, New Directions, Opportunities, and Conclusions
Fri., Apr. 21 Lecture: Preparing Your Term Paper
Mon., Apr. 24 Lecture: Presenting Your Term Paper
Wed., Apr. 26 Lecture: New Directions in Medical Anthropology
Fri. Apr. 28 Lecture: Opportunities
and Careers in Medical Anthropology
Mon., May 1 Lecture: Applying Medical Anthropology In Our Lives
Wed., May 3 Lecture: Concluding Remarks
Fri., May 12 Term Paper and Extra Credit Report due at 4:00 pm, Location TBA
Term Paper Presentation, 4:00-7:00 pm, Location TBA
[Note: This syllabus is provisional and may be subject to modification by the professor during the course of the semester in the event of unexpected opportunities or unforeseen challenges encountered by the class.]
Students with Special Needs, Scheduling Conflicts, or Other Challenges
An important part of your responsibilities as a college student is to inform your instructors in a timely manner of any special needs, scheduling conflicts, religious obligations, medical problems, or family emergencies that may affect your ability to complete your coursework.
For example, ACCESS students should confirm that I have received a letter from the ACCESS office, and contact me during the first two weeks of class to discuss accommodations arrangements.
Students with scheduling conflicts due to religious obligations, family duties, pre-scheduled medical appointments, sports competitions, artistic performances, or other extracurricular commitments should contact me during the first two weeks of class and provide me with a letter with a written schedule of their commitments.
If unexpected health problems, physical or mental or emotional difficulties, or personal or family emergencies arise, you should contact me as soon as you can and keep in mind that the Office of the Dean of Students, the Student Health Center, the Counseling Center, the Center for Health and Wellbeing, the Learning Coop, and many other resources are available to assist you.
Course Policies
This section addresses course policies to ensure a positive and fair learning environment and to make sure that everyone has a clear understanding of the expectations in this course.
Preparation: Assigned readings must be completed prior to each class meeting. Inadequate preparation will impair your ability to perform well in the class. Class lectures will assume completion of assigned readings. It is your responsibility to make sure to complete all of the readings in a timely fashion.
Attendance: Attendance at each class meeting is crucial to your ability to do well in this course. Classes will start promptly. Students are expected to arrive in the classroom on time and to remain in the classroom until the end of the class. No absences and no tardiness can be permitted without consequences unless documentation of a serious health problem, family emergency, religious obligation, or other excused reason is provided. Unexcused absences, tardiness, or early departures will bring down the student's class participation grade. If you do need to be absent, with or without an excused reason, please touch base with the professor via a brief note or email as soon as you can. If, during class, you need to arrive late or leave early, you should do so quietly and considerately. It is your responsibility to make up any content that you miss due to absence from class.
Conduct: All members of the class are expected to be attentive and considerate, to work together to create a positive and invigorating learning environment, and to treat each other with respect and compassion. Inappropriate conduct will bring down the student's class participation grade.
Late papers and make-ups: Late papers cannot be accepted, extensions cannot be granted, and make-ups cannot be given without documentation of a serious health problem, family emergency, religious obligation, or other excused reason. Please mark your calendars and set your alarm clocks carefully. Unexcused absence on the day that a presentation is scheduled will result in a zero on the presentation in question. Unexcused late papers will be marked down by a full letter grade per day late (e.g., one to twenty-four hours late, an A- becomes a B-).
Plagiarism and cheating: Plagiarism and cheating hamper a person's ability to learn and grow and create original work, and they stunt a group's ability to maintain fairness, honesty, and trust. Please familiarize yourself with proper citation practices and definitions of plagiarism and cheating. It is important to be aware that violations can result in serious consequences, including a failing grade on the essay, paper, or presentation in question. If you any questions concerning the line between doing your own work and copying the work of others, please do not hesitate to ask.