ANTH 7511 - Critically-Applied Medical Anthropology

Credit Hours: (3)

Description This course provides an overview of medical anthropology and considers its position within the discipline of anthropology and its utility for public health. In this course, students will gain ways to utilize ethnographic and qualitative data in health interventions, policy and evaluation. Students will gain critical skills in evaluating the adequacy and validity of formulations about “culture” and “tradition” in health programs and research, examine emic perceptions of disease, and consider the ways in which western science and biomedicine are themselves cultural constructs. This seminar explores the major theoretical lenses within medical anthropology with a particular focus on how medical anthropologists theorize the relationship between culture, structural violence, and health.