ANT208H1 Lecture Notes - Franz Boas, World Health Organization, Medical Anthropology
Document Summary
Ant208 chapter #1 notes: a biocultural approach to medical anthropology. Everyone gets sick more than once in their life time each illness affect individuals differently. Disease common in one population may be rare or nonexistent in another. Attempts to prevent, cure or lessen the affects of disease exists in every culture, it is the medical traditions that vary. A discipline that investigates the nature and causes of human variation and those aspects of life that are common to all humanity. Anthropologists seek to understand similarities and differences in behaviour and biology across cultures and populations and how these dimensions change over time. Anthropological research focuses on: language, kinship, economic and political systems, subsistence, religious beliefs, healing practices etc. Franz boas: father of anthropology known for his extensive field work. Cultural relativism: other cultures must not be evaluated in relation to another judged superior, rather cultures must be understood or made sense of on their own terms.
