Reflection on Medical Anthropology:
The use of medical anthropology is pertinent to truly understanding illness. Prior to this class I thought that culture was something that confused illness for most people, and after the class the opposite is in fact true. Culture and other external factors are just as important for healthcare as biomedicine is. I personally found the ethnomedical approach and the applied approach the most important for understanding illness as I go forward in my career. When my grandfather, pictured below, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I found myself trying to rationalize and generalize all of the symptoms that were associated with his disease, but I failed to look at how my grandfather viewed it. I feel that this course helped me understand how influential living conditions and personal belief are, in regards to understanding how illness affects a person. I thought that there were many helpful things that came from this class and that the most memorable moments were the ones that taught me the most about myself. I personally thought the video titled "In Sickness and in Wealth" was a great video to show socioeconomic status effects everyone and their disease status in America. I think that this was an important lesson for me, because I never realized the effects resources and income had on people around the world. That video also showed me that, even though we are American, our healthcare system has flaws and can continue to improve. I think the article titled, "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of Western Medicine," that talked about Clown Doctors in NYC was a very innovative take on helping sick children get over there fear of the hospital and doctors. By dressing in bright color and using props that are able to boost the morale of the sick children and their family members. Clown performances are acts of communication about culture that can provoke emotional responses and has been associated with psychological healing for a long time. Their techniques are not conventional by a western standpoint, and they use weird costumes, music, sleight of hand, puppet/spirit helpers, and ventriloquism. I think that these two sources used in class were very beneficial for my understanding of how medical anthropology is important for making healthcare better. While researching for a post in this class, I stumbled onto the MIT anthropology site and it had a great deal of videos that helped solidify my knowledge of anthropology. One short video that I found intriguing was the video titled "Doing Anthropology" (linked below) because it gave me a great summary of anthropology. I also think that tying in political influences into this course would be extremely beneficial because I do not know much about how politics effects world wide health. If I were to discuss the importance of medical anthropology to someone does not know anything about the field I would ask them to recall a sickness or emotional event that they couldn't explain. After having them recount the experience, I would discuss how medical anthropology tries to ascertain how a person perceives their illness and create a way to make their situation better based on how they felt.
Bibliography:
The use of medical anthropology is pertinent to truly understanding illness. Prior to this class I thought that culture was something that confused illness for most people, and after the class the opposite is in fact true. Culture and other external factors are just as important for healthcare as biomedicine is. I personally found the ethnomedical approach and the applied approach the most important for understanding illness as I go forward in my career. When my grandfather, pictured below, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I found myself trying to rationalize and generalize all of the symptoms that were associated with his disease, but I failed to look at how my grandfather viewed it. I feel that this course helped me understand how influential living conditions and personal belief are, in regards to understanding how illness affects a person. I thought that there were many helpful things that came from this class and that the most memorable moments were the ones that taught me the most about myself. I personally thought the video titled "In Sickness and in Wealth" was a great video to show socioeconomic status effects everyone and their disease status in America. I think that this was an important lesson for me, because I never realized the effects resources and income had on people around the world. That video also showed me that, even though we are American, our healthcare system has flaws and can continue to improve. I think the article titled, "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of Western Medicine," that talked about Clown Doctors in NYC was a very innovative take on helping sick children get over there fear of the hospital and doctors. By dressing in bright color and using props that are able to boost the morale of the sick children and their family members. Clown performances are acts of communication about culture that can provoke emotional responses and has been associated with psychological healing for a long time. Their techniques are not conventional by a western standpoint, and they use weird costumes, music, sleight of hand, puppet/spirit helpers, and ventriloquism. I think that these two sources used in class were very beneficial for my understanding of how medical anthropology is important for making healthcare better. While researching for a post in this class, I stumbled onto the MIT anthropology site and it had a great deal of videos that helped solidify my knowledge of anthropology. One short video that I found intriguing was the video titled "Doing Anthropology" (linked below) because it gave me a great summary of anthropology. I also think that tying in political influences into this course would be extremely beneficial because I do not know much about how politics effects world wide health. If I were to discuss the importance of medical anthropology to someone does not know anything about the field I would ask them to recall a sickness or emotional event that they couldn't explain. After having them recount the experience, I would discuss how medical anthropology tries to ascertain how a person perceives their illness and create a way to make their situation better based on how they felt.
Bibliography:
- Blerkom, Linda Miller Van. "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers Of Western Medicine." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9, no. 4 (1995): 462-475.
- YouTube. "Doing Anthropology." YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhCruPBvSjQ (accessed August 10, 2014).
- Unnatural causes. Film. Directed by Larry Adelman. San Francisco, Calif.: California Newsreel, 2008.