ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ethnomedicine, Insomnia, Quran
27 Nov 2015
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Ethnomedicine: study of health + health systems. Health system: all cultures have one: Explanatory models for why we get sick are products of culture. Most sick ppl excess heat/moisture (fever/sweating/cough) Imp aspect of latin-american folk med practice. Treatment = kill ^ no more disease. Battle metaphors killer t cells: infected cells. Soul loss : separation of soul and body. Symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, fever, diarrhea, depression, etc. Ju/"hoansi (aka ju/wasi san society in deserts of southern africa) Hard to cure medically, no clear biological cause. Culturally linked to concern w/ body weight. Marily nonroe in 1950s vs. models today. St. catherine of siena (1347-1380): well known fasting woman. Environment interacts with culture to influence the cause/spread. Focus on illness/healing as symbols + meanings like placebo. Focus on how economic/political factors affect health/access to healing. Anorexia socially constructed concepts of perfection, morality. Leprosy as a cross-cultural phenomenon india. Influenced by india"s embedded caste system (class structure determined by birth)
