Anthropology Final

Medical Anthropology

Examines how health, illness, and disease are experienced, understood, and treated within different cultures and societies. It studies the social, cultural, and historical factors that shape health behaviors and healthcare systems,

Objects of Study (Medical Anthropology)

Our understanding and experience of the body are NOT universal (Think of Lissa; U.S vs. Egypt)

Social Determinants of Health

Social Class, Living conditions, Legal Status, Environment, Gender Inequalities, Language Barriers, Stress, Discrimination, Racism

ethnocentrism

It uses the yardstick of ones own culture to measure others; “Other Cultures” lack something

Structural Violence

A form of violence based on the systematic ways in which a given social structure or institution harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs

Embodiment of Inequality

how social and economic inequalities are internalized and physically manifested in individuals and communities, often impacting health outcomes

Paul Farmer (Work)

World’s poor are the victims of structural violence because of the fact that they both suffer more and are less likely to have their suffering noticed.

Medicine as a Social Science

How to deal with cultural differences in clinical contexts such as other traditions of healing are forms of medical knowledge with valid techniques of care and cure

Forms of Institutionalized Discrimination

Racism, Classism, Sexism, Ethnocentrism, Etc.

Examples of Structural Violence

Lack of access to healthcare, poor education, Incarceration, poor housing, poor geographic locations

Environment (In terms of Anthropology)

Interactions between humans and their environment, indigenous ways of understanding and relating to the environment, how people describe and talk about climate and change

Climate Change (In terms of Anthropology)

It intensifies underlying problems - Poverty and economic disparities, food and water security, and armed conflict

Anthropocene

Specific human actions and choice drive climate change by emphasizing fossil fuel as the primary energy source, creating a culture of consumerism, and favoring land use practices that undermine ecological resilience

Borders

Between Nation-States, forms of care, ideas of victimhood, who a citizen is

Effect of Borders

Cultural Identity and belonging, “Dominant” cultural narratives, practices and traditions, and overall shaping social and political dynamics.

Citizenship

Literal: Legal Inclusion

Metaphorically: Standing for a form of inclusion

Concept: Membership to a community

Relation Between Border and Migration

Crossing borders, being undocumented, a host society (community or country that receives migration, refugee resettlement), laws, customs, and Humanitarian Care

Forms of “Citizenship”

Confessional: Police stations and more technical

Cultural: Phases of purification through involvement in cultural practices and identity formation.

“Multicultural” Society

Acknowledging the diverse traditions, languages, and practices of different groups and promoting their equal participation in social, political, and economic life

Crisis

Something that insinuates a problem that is occurring right now and needs to be dealth with 

Hurricane Katrina

Individuals’ exit plans were largely determined by race and class; “The poor are vulnerable

Lissa

Book about different medical experiences and systems within western medicine

Anna

Raised in the U.S, with her main struggle being dealing with a hereditary cancer, and she has access to state-of-the-art private cancer prevention facilities

Layla

Dealt with both medical problems in terms of her fathers kidney transplant, and Egypt as a whole lacking medical support, and political revolution within Egypt known as “The Arab Spring”

Institutionalized Discrimination

Trader Joe’s is a cheap grocery store, but it doesn’t tend to open in low-income communities, but rather middle-upper class communities

This is Why We Protect The Rivers Reading

How communities in different parts of the world have a different relationship with the environment

Terraferma

Took place on Lampedusa, an island south of Italy which serves as an entry point into Europe for migrants