REFLECTION(S)
On this page you will find my thoughts on the subject matter of ANP 204, a medical anthropology class at Michigan State University. As you may already know, this website was a project for ANP 204. To put it succinctly, it was a great class; I'm glad I took it. I hope to work in global health after I finish my degree a Michigan State, and I believe that this class has not only helped me refine some of the "tools" I had but also provided me new ones. Throughout my academic career (specifically referring to the anthropology and sociology classes I have taken), I have realized how important it is to understand things via a cultural context. This class has only reaffirmed the choices I have made and am going to make with regards to my career and other interests.
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HEALTH AND CULTURE
My perceptions of illness and health had already been somewhat informed by anthropological and sociological perspectives due to other classes I have taken. At one point, however, I did view health as the absence of sickness; it was a very reductive way of defining it. Now, I focus on how biology, psychology, social and environmental factors play into the state of wellness while also recognizing the individual experiences that also play a huge role. Illness, then, is what would disrupt this wellness state. What determines an illness is extremely individualized. An example to highlight what I mean by this is menstruation: for some, there is an array of adverse side effects that comes with menstruating. For others, there really aren't any side effects. For the former, menstruation would adversely affect the individual's state of well-being. This disruption of 'well' is what I would consider to be an illness.
I think that something that this class really zeroed in on for me was the medicalization and biomedicalization processes. Many seemingly 'normal' health variations have become pathologized and medicated. To bring back the example of menstruation, menstruation became reconceptualized as an illness through direct to consumer advertising (DTCA). The normal variations were reframed as medically abnormal 'symptoms' that needed to be diagnosed and biomedical treatment. The image to the right is a comic that points out as well as pokes fun at medicalization (Madden). |
Additionally, this class has reiterated the extreme importance of cultural contexts. It would be absolutely ridiculous for me to be working in the global health sector and completely ignoring the cultural contexts and understandings of the illnesses or the problems. I would ultimately do more harm than good. All in all, this class reinforces that you need to look at illness and health with a holistic, intersectional lens. If you aren't looking at all the parts, you probably aren't understanding the big picture.
THE SIX APPROACHES
As you should already know, there were six approaches that I looked at on this website: biological, ecological, ethnomedical, experiential, critical, and applied. I think that one I will find the most useful is the applied as it utilizes the other five approaches and anthropological theory and turns it into praxis. The career path I'm on requires me to have knowledge about the other approaches (as will most other career paths) - only focusing on the biological approach, for instance, would not provide sufficient explanations for health or illness. All these approaches to some degree build off of one another so incorporating all of them would be the best choice.
To the left is an image from the World Health Organization (WHO) that I feel best exemplifies what I want to do. The work I'll be doing should be informed by the culture, the supportive systems, the people, and the research. |
THE CLOWN DOCTORSI think what I found most interesting from this class were the clown doctors of New York City. The image below depicts one of these clown doctors interacting with a child (Figure 1).
In Linda Miller Van Blerkom's article "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of Western Medicine," she discusses how these doctors are actually very similar to shamans. She states: "Both clown and shaman violate natural and cultural rules in their performances. Both help patient and family deal with illness. Both use suggestion and manipulation of medical symbols in attempting to alleviate their patient's distress." I think this is a very interesting analysis as by comparing clown doctors and shamans and showing the efficacy of their work, it highlights that biomedical intervention is just an answer, not the answer.
WHAT'S MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AGAIN?
Medical anthropology is the "application of anthropological methods to cultural questions of health, healing, illness, and disease" (Karim, Lecture 1.1). It is incredibly useful and necessary as it enables you to use a more holistic, intersectional lens to view illnesses and other problems, potentially leading to positive solutions.
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RECOMMENDATIONS?There are three books that I think would be a good fit for the course curriculum:
The Transplant Imaginary discusses xenotransplantation and bioengineering. It looks at the ethical issues of both and how they are constructed, both positively and negatively, in our culture. I think this book would be a great fit in the class because of the critical approach the author takes to establish the cultural contexts throughout their histories. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is another great fit for the class because it emphasizes the necessity for cross-cultural communication and understanding. This book follows Lia Lee, an infant with 'epilepsy', in biomedical understanding, and a 'lost soul' (or something to that effect) in Hmong understanding. This book shows the devastating effects of cultural misunderstandings and the failure to work with other communities to ameliorate their treatments. |
THANKS FOR READING!
And thanks for going on this educational journey with me to learn more about bipolar disorder via the six approaches I learned in my class. If you have any questions or concerns, click here and send me a comment. I'll get back to you as soon as possible!
REFERENCE(S)
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Print.
Figure 1. Digital image. Clown Doctors New Zealand. Clown Doctors, Web. Aug. 2014.
Karim, Tazin. "Lecture 1.1 Introduction to the Field." ANP 204. Lecture Notes. Aug. 2014.
Madden, Chris. Medicalization Cartoon. Digital image. Cartoon Stock. Cartoon Stock, Web. Aug. 2014.
Miller Van Blerkom, Linda. "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of Western Medicine."Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9.4 (1995): 462-75. Web. Aug. 2014.
Sharp, Lesley. The Transplant Imaginary. Mechanical Hearts, Animal Parts, and Moral Thinking in Highly Experimental Science. Berkeley: U of California, 2014. Print.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.
World Health Organization. Knowledge Wheel. Digital image. World Health Organization. WHO, Web. Aug. 2014.
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Print.
Figure 1. Digital image. Clown Doctors New Zealand. Clown Doctors, Web. Aug. 2014.
Karim, Tazin. "Lecture 1.1 Introduction to the Field." ANP 204. Lecture Notes. Aug. 2014.
Madden, Chris. Medicalization Cartoon. Digital image. Cartoon Stock. Cartoon Stock, Web. Aug. 2014.
Miller Van Blerkom, Linda. "Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of Western Medicine."Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9.4 (1995): 462-75. Web. Aug. 2014.
Sharp, Lesley. The Transplant Imaginary. Mechanical Hearts, Animal Parts, and Moral Thinking in Highly Experimental Science. Berkeley: U of California, 2014. Print.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.
World Health Organization. Knowledge Wheel. Digital image. World Health Organization. WHO, Web. Aug. 2014.