Health, Culture and Society
Anth 202
MF 11:30-12:45
Fall 2012
Instructor: Kristi J. Krumrine
Office: Fraser 118
Phone: (585) 281.3821 (cell)
(585) 245.5043 (office)
Email: krumrine@geneseo.edu
Office Hours: MF 1-2:30 or by appointment
Course Outline
Description and Objectives
This course explores health and medical issues from a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective, highlighting the diverse ways in which different cultures deal with illness and disease. These issues are central to medical anthropology, a fast-growing subfield of anthropology. Topics include the experience and distribution of illness, the prevention and treatment of sickness, traditional healing practices, social epidemiology, and the effects of globalization and political policies on disease transmission and treatment. Course material will be presented through lecture, films, group presentations, and processed in class discussions.
Learning Outcomes
•
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the relationship between health
and culture; their understanding of theoretical perspectives that seek to
explain the relationship between disease, illness and culture in different
societies; the variety of cultural and social institutions that manage health
services; and the range of social and cultural health issues that people
confront across cultures through examinations and class discussions.
•
Students will demonstrate their ability to apply the anthropological approach
as well as methods and theories of the discipline by researching and analyzing
health issues, sick roles, patterns of inequality, etc. in presentation and
paper assignments.
•
Students will demonstrate their understanding of cultural institutions and
diversity through examinations and class discussions.
•
Students will demonstrate their ability to compare and contrast their own
culture with others from the perspective of cultural relativism
(multiculturalism) in classroom discussions and critiques.
Social Science Core
This course
fulfills one course in the social science and one course in the multicultural
general education requirements. The guidelines for social science core courses
stress the development of the following characteristics of a responsible member
of society:
•
an acquaintance with major empirical, analytical, or theoretical approaches to
human behavior, institutions or culture;
•
an acquaintance with social, economic, political, or moral alternatives;
•
an acquaintance with major problems, issues, institutions, practices or trends
in the social world;
•
a capacity to express ideas clearly, coherently and grammatically in written
form as one component of the evaluation process. This written work must total
at least 1500 words, at least half of which must be prepared outside of class.
Required Texts
Singer and Baer (2012) Introducing Medical Anthropology, 2nd ed. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Fadiman, Anne (1997) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Dettwyler (1994) Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa. Waveland Press.
Class Requirements
There will be 2 exams in this course, each worth 20% of the final grade. The exams will cover lectures, readings and films and will emphasize your conceptual grasp of the course material. All exams must be taken at the scheduled time. Due dates are outlined below.
Students are required to write a paper on a topic of their choice and present their findings in an in-class presentation. Presentations should be approximately 20 minutes in duration and should include visual aides, such as PowerPoint. The presentation should include a works cited slide and any images used should also be referenced (you can include a small caption under each image with the author, year and page number). The presentation grade comprises 20% of the total course requirements. Papers should be approximately 10-12 pages in length and include a minimum of 8 bibliographic sources (3 of which may be from the internet). The paper is worth 20% of the course requirement and must be turned in on the day of the final examination. Papers should be typed, double-spaced, stapled and include a cover page with a title. They should follow conventions for writing according to anthropological guidelines and include works cited. Students are required to work in groups of 3 on the paper and presentation. Both students MUST contribute equally to the project; please let me know ASAP if you feel that your partner is not putting in equal time. Due dates are outlined below.
The remaining components of the final grade include two critiques of the assigned readings or films, worth 10%, and participation in class discussions and fellow student presentations, also worth 10% of the final grade. The critiques can be turned in any time during the semester, before Thanksgiving break.
Academic Honesty Policy
Plagiarism, cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Please refer to the Undergraduate Bulletin (pgs. 373-375) regarding SUNY Geneseo policies (available through the college webpage).
Course requirements and important dates:
Exam #1 100 10/5
#2 100 11/19
Presentation 100 TBA
Paper 100 12/14
Critiques (2) 50 9/7-11/16
Participation 50
* The second column represents the points each assignment is worth out of a total of 500 possible points for the course.
Weekly Schedule and Reading Assignments
Reading assignments are meant to reinforce and compliment the class lectures, images, and discussions and in no way replace them. Consequently, your regular attendance is essential for understanding class topics. I will take attendance before class, for my own records, and will take attendance into consideration when determining border-line grades. Keeping current with the reading assignments will make it easier to study for exams and facilitate class discussions. * Additional readings are available on mycourses ** Students are responsible for any changes in the syllabus that are announced in class.
Week 1 8/27-31 Course Overview/ Medical Anthropology Theory &
Methods
Read: S&B Ch. 1-2; Fadiman Ch. 1
Week 2 9/3 Labor Day- no class
9/7 Defining Health and Illness
Read: S&B Ch. 3; Fadiman Ch. 2-5;
Harwood
Week 3 9/10-14 Ethnomedicine and Healing
Read: S&B Ch. 4; Fadiman Ch. 6-8; Konner
Film: “The Split Horn: A Hmong Shaman in America”
Week 4 9/17-21 Anthropology and Biomedicine Read: Fadiman 9-12; Farmer & Kleinman
Week 5 9/24-28 Personhood
Read: Fadiman Ch. 13-16; Murphy
Week 6 10/1 Race, Ethnicity & Class
Read: S&B Ch. 5; Fadiman Ch.17-19; Heurtin-Roberts & Reisin
10/5 Exam #1
Week 7 10/8 Fall break- have fun!
10/12 Gender & Health
Read: Dettwyler; West; Martin
Week 8 10/15-19 The Lifecourse: Birth, Life & Death
Read: Dettwyler; Small; Scheper-Hughes
Week 9 10/22-26 Biocultural Perspective/Evolution, Health and
Medicine
Read: Dettwyler; Eaton et al; Oliwenstein
Week 10 10/29-11/2 Infectious Disease
Read: S&B Ch. 6; Dettwyler; Farmer
Film: “The Plague Fighters”
Week 11 11/5-9 Food Security and Nutrition
Read: S&B Ch. 7; Dettwyler; TBA
Week 12 11/12-16 Health and Environment
Read: BSS Ch. 12; Dettwyler; TBA
Week 13 11/19 Exam #2
11/23 Happy Thanksgiving!
Week 14 11/26-12/30 Student Presentations
Week 15 12/3-7 Student Presentations
Week 16 12/10 Student Presentations
12/14 Final Exam 12-3 pm (turn in final papers)