Anthro Health Sem

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School

New York Institute of Technology, Westbury *

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Course

309

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

pdf

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Uploaded by jeremynsamuel

Introduction - Review of the four subfields of anthropology: - Cultural Anthropology - the concept of culture is central. Edward defined culture as “ A complex whole of shared beliefs, norms, language, customs, artifacts, etc.” - It is a “way of life”- shared understanding with learned behavior patterns (structured expectations). Cultural traits are shared and learned. - Cultural Anthropologists seek to describe, understand, and explain the features of culture. Note: early studies in Ethnomedicine contributed - to medical Anthropology(e.g... Studies of healing rituals and practices, applied studies in international public health implementation, planned community programs, etc.). - Significantly, Anthropologists have improved communication in developing projects and new types of healthcare for communities. 3. Archaeology - Reconstructs the life of past cultures by analyzing material remains (artifacts) and human skeletal remains. Investigates past political, social, and economic organization of a culture. - Contributes to Medical Anthropology by the study of disease and diet among the previous population 4. Biological Anthropology (Biological Anthropology, Human Biology) - Studies of physical diversity, physical origins(evolution of human species), genetic characteristics of groups, etc. - Biomedical Anthropology and bio-behavioral studies have emerged as subfields of Physical Anthropology. B. Medical Anthropology - Multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary field that unites biological anthropology and socio-cultural anthropology in terms of an evolutionary model *Study of human health and disease in a biological, cultural, and environmental context. Medical Ecology is a special approach to Medical Anthropology which emphasizes the environment Important Ques - How do people Survive in a Particular Environment? - How do groups cope with disease? - How do they solve problems that affect health? Key Concept - Adaptation ( the changes and modifications that enable a person or group to survive in a given environment)

Medical Ecology stresses the role of the environment and human adaptations to the environment. The ethnomedical - Perspective tries to discover, understand, and explain the inhabitant's viewpoint in analyzing health and systems of healing. ( ex. EthnoPharmacology, Shamanism, etc.) A holistic approach to Medical Anthropology incorporates the biological, socio-cultural, and environmental facts in multivariable models. Exploring the interactive dynamics among them. II. Early Theoretical Approaches and their Contributions to Later Medical Anthropology Approaches: A. Structural Functionalism ( Radcliffe- Brown and Malinowski) a. They focused on institutions and the mechanisms of society that function to maintain society. Society was able to exist due to customs that were adaptive. Groups try to cope with their American Functionalism- Focus is also on culture customs as they function to support the basic biological and psychological needs (survival) Needs are fulfilled as the Culture of our social group prescribes (ex. Physician vs. Shaman). George and Mary Foster utilized Equilibrium Functional Model: Area of Tzintzunzan, Mexico The fosters demonstrate how curing rituals make sense for the community. Note: healing techniques are not separate from the larger community. The health of individuals is mirrored in the “ Social HealthHey “ of the community - Peasants believe that if everyone is about equal socially and economically that the community is in a “ healthy” shape - Parallel to this is the concept that individuals are in good health if their bodies are in balance (equilibrium) - Categories of hot/cold-: Note: The Hot/Cold Theory of Disease, actually goes back to Ancient Greece. They make sense in terms of the culture not chemistry Mcgill Pain Questionnaire for pain variety Statistical Test- ANOVA (analysis of variation test) - Compute V.R ( Variance Ratio) among and within groups Ethnicities: - “ Old Americans”( Three generations or more)(n# = 100) - Hispanics ( no# 44) - Irish ( no# 60) - Italian ( no# 50)

- French Canadians ( no# 90) - Polish ( no# 28) What do you notice regarding the sample size and sample groups? Whom would you include? All of the people listen above are majority white if this was my study I would include people such as Asians, African Americans and Middle Eastern people in this study Variables - Dependent Variable - chronic pain Independent Variable - Ethnicity, age, gender, path treatment, history, clinical diagnosis etc. Questionnaires- McGill pain Questionnaires - Behavioral Response - Variables and Result 1. Inter-ethnic Group Variation a. Perception of pain intensity ( unbearable pain score = 78 ) i. Hispanic - Highest 40.6 ii. Italian - 32.3 iii. Intermediate: “ Old Americans” - 30.3 1. Irish - 31.5 iv. Lowest: Polish - 29.5 1. French Canadian - 29.3 2. Behavioral response ( work stoppage inside/outside the home) a. Lowest: “ Old Americans” b. Highest: “ Hispanics and Italians” Asking for advice: - “ Old Americans” ask for advice the least - Hispanic asked for advice the most often Intra-group: 3. Attitudinal Response: Category of healthy disabled in regards to definition of self a. Healthy definition of self: i. Old Americans - 61% ii. French Canadians - 58% Intra-gorup 1. Generation and degree of heritage consistently appeared to make a difference. Those who were immigrants or !st generation U.S born and who believe that they had support of family and friends reported less severe response to pain. a. Irish and French Canadians with higher heritage constantly had lower depression associated with pain b. Irish and Italian - higher heritage consistency had lower levels of total activity interference 2. Locus of control

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a. Internal locus of control- perception that circumstances are the realsult of one’s own actions b. External locus of control- Associated with severe pain and life disruption c. Internal Locus of control and lower intensity of pain - Irish, French Canadians, and Italians ● Generation- As generation goes up a degree of expression goes down. Why? As the generation goes up, the fear level goes up. Why? The Medical Anthropologist sees disease in the socio-cultural context d. French Structuralism (Claude Levi-Strauss) - A culture comprises a myriad of thoughts, values, behaviors and knowledge, ect - According to Levi-Strauss as groups attach meaning to aspects of culture they become symbols. - According to Levi-Strauss meaning is to be found in a deeper unconscious pattern of language and thought Levi-Strauss studied symbols and the relations between symbols. He utilizes a method that includes Binary Oppositions. - Binary Opposition refers to the deeper symbolic meaning of one term as it is reflected in its opposite meaning (e.g.. Health/Diseases, well/sick) - Health preserving: - Health/Sickness - Clean/Unclean - Purity/Impurity - Inside/Outside - Night/Day [ Language is a means of discovering meaning and knowledgeable understanding] - According to Onuki-Tierney - Horizontal relationship - Vertical