ATH243 Test 1

What is anthropology?

the study of human life and culture

What are the four subfields of anthropology?

biological, cultural, linguistic, archaeology

what is medical anthropology

Study of factors that contribute to variability in
health and disease in past and present populations.

Father of Anthropology

Franz Boas

what is meant by culture in anthropology

Patterns of behavior that are shared
or common to a group (e.g. beliefs,
practices, values, traditions)

Is culture learned?

Culture is learned (individual, social,
symbolic)

cultural relativism

The ability to understand a culture or cultural
practice on its own terms and not make judgments
using the standards of one's own culture.

ethnographic fieldwork

often requires residing in a community, speaking the local language, and participating in daily life as a member of that community

Participant observation

the active participation in social and cultural life
along with open-minded, non-judgmental observation of a group's behavior

Participant observation provides both

an insider's and an outsider's perspective

biocultural perspective

gene/biology, phsyical environment and culture

emic perspective

The insider view, which is what the members of that society have

An emic account is how

member of the group would describe or interpret the behavior of group members.

etic viewpoint

that of an outsider, observing behavior
as if from a distance and with no prior knowledge about its emic meaning

"miyupimaatisiiun"

"being alive well"

biocultural perspective

considers the social, ecological, and biological aspects of health issues and how they interact within and across populations.

WHO health

a state of complete social, psychological and physical well-being"
(WHO 1978)

Relativism of Health between population differences

ex: depression and hemoglobin levels

Biomedicine

It views disease as having a unique biological cause within the body, whether it be a microorganism causing infection, the growth of malignant cells, the deficiency of a nutrient, or the failure of an organ because of repeated insults

relativism of health within population differences

BMI in boys vs girls and infant mortality risk at different maternal ages

Dimensions of Health negative

illness, disease, sickness

what is disease

Physiological alteration that impairs
function

disease is an

Objective measure that can be used
cross-culturally

disease types

injury, infection, malnutrition, genetic, chronic, psychological/behavioral

What is illness

Subjective experience of symptoms and
suffering"

Example of illness

Complaints that bring you to a doctor

Injury

All organisms are vulnerable to injury or damage to
some part of the anatomy as a function of random accidents, living in a dangerous environment

Behaviors that increase injury of risk

driving recklessly, consuming a lot of alcohol, having a job in a factory working with heavy machinery

Infection

disease that derives from microorganisms
that spread from one individual to another and compromise function in some way

Infectious diseases can be caused by

viruses, bacteria, protozoa, or multicellular organisms (such as worms) and can vary in severity

Malnutrition

These are physiological disorders that stem
from the lack or surfeit of nutrients, including vitamins,
minerals, carbohydrates, protein, and fat

example of malnutrition

Scurvy lack of vitamin C

Long-term overconsumption can contribute to

chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer

Genetic

In the process of sexual reproduction, mutations
may occur in the formation of egg or sperm. These mutations can ultimately create alterations in fetal development or contribute to some forms of impairment after birth

example of genetic mutation

sickle-cell hemoglobin, which seems to protect against deadly forms of malaria.

Chronic

Some forms of chronic disease stem from genetic
factors, but most result from lifelong behaviors

examples of chronic diseases

cardiovascular disease, cancer-related to smoking, diabetes and allergies

what type of diabetes in chronic

type 2

psychological/behavioral

These forms of disease are also relatively absent from wild organisms, but they have come to be common among humans in industrialized societies.

examples of psychological/behavioral

depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD

The term "illness" is used to describe

the subjective experience of
symptoms and suffering, often motivating changes in behavior to alleviate the discomfort

examples of alleviating discomfort from illness

such as altering the diet, resting, or seeking
professional help

Illness according to Kleinman

Illness complaints are what patients and their families bring to the practitioner

Disease according to Kleinman

Is what the practitioner creates in the recasting of illness in terms of theories
of disorder

Comparing disease to illness

reductionism

who came up with reductionism

Arthur Kleinman

The subjective experience of suffering is

informed by an individual's
cultural context; that is, there are culturally specific and culturally appropriate ways of being ill and expressing that experience.

focus on disease is often considered

reductionist; that is, it reduces the illness experience to a physiological locus

proximate foccused on

immediate; nearest, cause

Proximate is accosiated with what approach

biomedical

example of proximate cause

pathogen

Proximate asks

what and how

Ultimate is associated with what approach

Biocultural

Biocultural foccused on

function, social, cultural, political, societal

ultimate/biocultural asks

Why

Medicalization

Defining a condition as a disease, or in need of medical surveillance

Biological normalcy

"Normal" = healthy and "abnormal" = unhealthy

Relativism in health

Cross cultural and between population differences
in health indicators
Within population differences in health indicators

Dimensions of Health

disease, illness and sickness

ailments is descriptions from

western biomedicine

who came up with Three Bodies of Health

Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987

What are the Three Bodies of Health

individual body, social body, body politic

Using anthropological approaches to
develop

health policies and interventions

Social determinants of
health (SDOH)

the numerous social factors such as income, education, and employment security that affect a person's health and well-being

example of health in evolutionary context

pregnancy sickness

pregnancy sickness proximate cause

hormone changes

pregnancy sickness ultimate cause

evolutionary adaptation to protect developing fetus from toxins

As fact evolution is

change in traits over time and how organisms change as result of heritable traits

As process what dose evolution explain

The origin of biological systems and How biological
systems change and are maintained over time

evolution is both

fact and theory

Theory

is a coherent group of propositions used to
account for a class of phenomena

everyday language, "theory" means

something that is possibly true (a hunch or a guess), but not known to be true

scientific theory is an explanation of

phenomena that come about through repeated
observation and experimentation.

Aristotle

the earth is full of everything already that will exist
living things arranged in increasing complexity
species are fixed in form do not change over time

Lamarck `

just think giraffe, those traits can be passed on

slide 20 lecture 5

slide 20 lecture 5

adaptation in everyday language

The process of changing to fit a situation

adaptation in biology language

trait that confers some advantage for survival or
reproduction within a particular environment

Natural selection in biology

differential survival and reproduction due to differences in individual traits

natural selection in everyday

survival of the fittest

evolution in everyday

something changes for the better

evolution in biology

changes in the traits (characteristics) of population over time

Evolution by natural selection is a proximate
explanation of how populations change over time. T/F

False

Natural selection means that the strongest
individuals will always survive to reproduce. T/F

False

Natural selection requires variability or traits.

True

In order for natural selection to occur in a
population, offspring must be able to inherit traits from their parents

True

The process of natural selection results in adaptive
traits that are well-suited for all environments.

False

what type of explanation is proximate

biomedicine

what type of explanation is ultimate

evolutionary medicine

what is evolutionary medicine

application of modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease

constraints

The design of the human eye leads
to a blind spot and allows for detached retinas.
The squid eye is free of such problems.

Evolved Defenses

cough, fever, pain, pregnancy sickness

Trade-offs

over design of one system will upset the balance of the entire system, our bones break

Conflicts

Human beings are in constant battle with other organisms that have been fine-tuned by evolution.

novel environments

The human body has only recently adopted its current environment

Virulence

trait of the pathogen that can increase and decrease

Disease is inevitable because

of the way organisms are shaped by evolution

Examples of coping with novel environment

diabetes and cancer

Biomedical explanation heart attack

Atherosclerosis (Blockage can be caused by
atherosclerosis: buildup of plague (fats, cholesterol) on artery walls , which can restrict blood flow.

evolutionary explanation to heart attack

Human brains and bodies adapted to an
environment with low availability of fat, salt
and sugar