ANTH 010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Sleep Paralysis, Ethnomedicine, Natural Environment

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Anthropology (ANTH)
• Course: ANTH 010
• Professor: witsoe

Document Summary

Study of health systems of specific cultures. (non-industrial societies) Expands on conventional medicine, with a focus on new topics such as the anthropology of the: body, culture, disability, change in indigenous or traditional healing systems, especially change resulting from the effects of globalization. Healing systems many areas: perceptions & classifications of health problems, prevention, diagnosis, healing (magical, religious, scientific healing substances. Non- western health systems called it folk medicine, popular medicine, or primitive medicine. Western medicine focuses too narrowly on disease & neglects illness. More understanding of health problems + cultural construction. A biological health problem that is objective & universal. Culturally specific perceptions & experiences of a health problem. Culturally specific casual explanation for health problems. Local, culturally specific models or explanations of diseases: natural environment (cold, hot), hereditary, socioeconomic, psychological emotions, supernatural sprits & magic. Human health problems large scale structural processes caused by such economic and political situations: war, famine, terrorism, forced migrations, poverty.