Top

Medical Anthropology Special Lecture

Latest update: 16 July, 2014

[2013]

1. Overview

For international health, especially for cooperation and development, understanding diversified cultural background is crucially important. Any aid without understanding tends to become a kind of cultural invasion, and it may result in tragic outcomes for the local people. This lecture thus outlines the basic concepts and methodologies of medical anthropology, followed by several examples.

2. Plan

The lecture is done in the first semester on Thursday, 14:40-16:10 at GSICS 206.

In 2014, debates on the several topics will be held, where the basic information is given and the sides are assigned in the end of previous week.

• Overview: history of the medical anthropology concept (10 April, handout)
• What is health? Applied medical anthropology and health care (17 April, handout)
• Disease, illness, sickness and the sick role (24 April, handout)
• Sick role and patient role in detail (1 May, handout)
• Cultural competence in health care (8 May, handout)
• Cultural systems models (22 May, handout, with PNG case)
• [Witchcraft and local health care in PNG] (29 May, no new concept has been introduced, Providing contraceptive devices for teenage girls is necessary or not? is given for the next week's debate theme).
• Ethnomedical systems and health care sectors (5 June 2014, handout)
• Transcultural psychiatry and indigenous psychology (12 June 2014, handout, Please see a blog entry in Yomi-doctor (in Japanese), Maternity protection law (in Japanese), and Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology's opinion for genetic test and diagnosis during pregnancy (in Japanese))
• Medical-ecological approaches to health (19 June 2014, handout)
• Political economy and critical medical anthropology (26 June 2014, handout)
• Psychobiological dynamics of health (3 July 2014, handout)
• (10 July 2014: Doctor assisted dying is acceptable or not?: See, BMJ commentary)
• Syamanic paradigm of ethnomedicine (17 July 2014, handout)

3. Evaluation

Based on presentation, discussion, and report.

4. Reference

Winkelman M (2009) Culture and Health: Applying Medical Anthropology. Jossey-Bass, John-Wiley and Sons.

Debbie Newman, Ben Woolgar, ed. (2014) Pros and Cons: A Debater's Handbook. 19th ed., Routledge.

5. Office hour

For the students of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Tuesday, 18:00-18:30, at Myodani campus E707. For the students of GSICS, Thusday, 16:40-18:00 at Frontier Building Room 717. Taking appointment is recommended.

6. Message to the students

Done in English.

Notice to cite or link here | [TOP PAGE]