Guest guest Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hi Bob - I agree with you. Medical anthropology is a real eye opener, especially to the world of 'medical belief' which we as much as any field of practice, including western medicine, have bought into. I have been delving into it for a year or so now since teaching an east west medical history course and having caught the bug from Paul Unschuld on the Salmon River. I think the works of Levi Strauss are critical and seminal, especially Structural Anthropology. But the work that will smack you between the eyes on this topic is from a professor at Harvard Medical University, Byron Good, the book is called Medicine Rationality and Experience. I do not think we can teach well, and especially those of us who teach the historical components in our programs without delving deeply into the notion of medical belief systems. Will > I've been taking my own advice of last week to deepen my knowledge of > contemporary medical anthropology, both on-line and in the library. > The following quote is from a medical anthropologist is Canada. > Reading the final paragraph, it seems to me that people choose to use > so-called alternative medicine as much because of their world view and > personal philosophy as for its clinical outcomes. What I mean here is > that I believe many practitioners and users of alternative medicine > continue their use and belief in their medicine regardless of clinical > outcomes. In other words, clinical outcomes may not be the most > important aspect of the medicine to its users. This would help explain > our professions general disregard for research and even basic literacy. > > Just a thought. " How do we know it is destiny? Because it is. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Will and Bob - It is delightful to see folks encountering some of the classic (if somewhat outdated) anthropological perspectives. Probably the material in this arena that continues to be of greatest value to the medical practitioner (regardless of their tradition) would be the work of Arthur Kleinman on professional versus lay models of health and disease, and the model that he constructed which classifies and contrasts professional perspectives on disease and patient perspectives on illness. Ultimately a more useful perspective on the structuralist perspective embodied in Claude Levi-Strauss' work is presented by Michel Foucault in his arguably post-structuralist discussion of the evolution of the clinical gaze in the work entitled The Birth of the Clinic. For folks seriously interested in discussions of medicine from a cross-cultural perspective we recommend Culture and Depression (edited by Kleinman and Good). Ted Kaptchuk saw fit to make use of Kleinman's insights as early as 1987 in his public presentations and these continue to be fundamental to any serious discussion of medical anthropology. This is particularly true of Kleinman's Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture. An individual with a serious interest in understanding the application of the anthropological approach to the field of medicine will want to give serious examination to Robert Hahn's discussion of The World of Internal Medicine: Portrait of an Internist in Physician's of Western Medicine edited by Hahn and Gaines. Individuals with interest in bodily representation, an aspect of medical systems that is not always well explored, may also be interested in The Expressiveness of the Body by Shigehesa Kuriyama, a protege of Arthur Kleinman's. Folks who are interested in exploring slightly beyond the fairly narrow confines of Medical Anthropology may find the radical critique provided by the anarchist Paul Feyerabend in his manifest Against Method in which he explores the relationship between state power and the development of traditional chinese medicine in China particularly compelling. These are ideas and authors that Kevin and I have been exposing our students to in the History of Medicine and the History and Philosophy of Medicine since 1988 and which have informed our research approaches to Chinese medicine. Happy Reading. Marnae At 09:31 AM 1/11/2005, you wrote: >Hi Bob - > >I agree with you. Medical anthropology is a real eye opener, especially to >the world of 'medical belief' which we as much as any field of practice, >including western medicine, have bought into. I have been delving into it >for a year >or so now since teaching an east west medical history course and having >caught >the bug from Paul Unschuld on the Salmon River. I think the works of Levi >Strauss are critical and seminal, especially Structural Anthropology. But the >work that will smack you between the eyes on this topic is from a >professor at >Harvard Medical University, Byron Good, the book is called Medicine >Rationality >and Experience. I do not think we can teach well, and especially those of us >who teach the historical components in our programs without delving deeply >into >the notion of medical belief systems. > >Will > > > I've been taking my own advice of last week to deepen my knowledge of > > contemporary medical anthropology, both on-line and in the library. > > The following quote is from a medical anthropologist is Canada. > > Reading the final paragraph, it seems to me that people choose to use > > so-called alternative medicine as much because of their world view and > > personal philosophy as for its clinical outcomes. What I mean here is > > that I believe many practitioners and users of alternative medicine > > continue their use and belief in their medicine regardless of clinical > > outcomes. In other words, clinical outcomes may not be the most > > important aspect of the medicine to its users. This would help explain > > our professions general disregard for research and even basic literacy. > > > > Just a thought. > > > " How do we know it is destiny? Because it is. " > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 Marnae, Thanks for the reading list. I read Kleinmann stuff when doing the psych book. The Feyerabend title looks extremely interesting. Thanks again. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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