Anthropological Perspective on Health and Illness (Chap 2+3)

Question 1

Anthropology

Answer 1

discipline investigating the nature and causes of human variations and those aspects of life that are common to all humanity

Question 2

Franz Boas

Answer 2

Father of Anthropology
Cultural Relativism
- Did not view cultural change as a progression from primitive to civilized but rather as simply unique adaptations to their own particular circumstances

Question 3

Cultural Relativism

Answer 3

Other cultures must not be evaluated in relation to another judged superior, rather cultures must be understood or “made sense of” in their own terms

Question 4

4 Fields of Anthropology

Answer 4

Biologica
Cultural
Linguistic
Archaeology

Question 5

Ethnomedicine

Answer 5

Healing traditions of a given culture

Question 6

Culture Concept

Answer 6

Culture = patterns of behaviour common to a group
Ethnographic Fieldwork = systematic description of human culture requiring residence in a community
Participant - Observation = The participation in yet detached observance of a groups behaviour

Question 7

Emic

Answer 7

Insiders view who is a member of a society

Question 8

etic

Answer 8

Outsiders view, observing behaviour from a distance with no prior knowledge of its emic meaning

Question 9

Biocultural Perspective

Answer 9

Considers social, ecological and biological aspects of health issues and how these interact within and across populations

Question 10

Biomedicine

Answer 10

Form of Medicine Developed out of the scientific tradition of the 18th Century Europe - Views disease as having a uniquely biological cause within the body
Cultural System within itself - predominant ethnomedical system of the west

Question 11

Culture

Answer 11

Beliefs, values and traditions of a group

Question 12

Holism

Answer 12

Entirety of culture (i.e Tribal Group) - what anthropology is primarily concerned with

Question 13

Health

Answer 13

Positive + Negative Definition - What Health is and What Health isn’t
Alma Ata conference 1978 - “a state of complete social psychological and physical wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

Question 14

Disease

Answer 14

Physiological alteration that impairs function
Derived from biomedical science
Injury, infection, malnutrition, genetic, chronic , psychological or behavioural
Diagnosed by a doctor

Question 15

Illness

Answer 15

Subjective experience of symptoms/suffering and motivates people to seek out assistance
What you believe is happening to you

Question 16

Sickness

Answer 16

Sick Roles - recognized set of expectations for sick people (not working, not writing exams etc..)
sickness must be recognized in our culture - Doc’s note
People lobby for certain conditions to be recognized and when they are not recognized a stigma can be attached to them

Question 17

Biomedical

Answer 17

fixed state of health

Question 18

biocultural

Answer 18

range of variation

Question 19

Epidemiology

Answer 19

Study of determinates of a disease in a population and application to health problems
Descriptive Epidemiology - Who/what/when/where
Analytics Epidemiology - How/Why

Question 20

Incidence Rate

Answer 20

Number of new cases in a population over a period of time

Question 21

Prevalence

Answer 21

Number of cases in a population over a period of time

Question 22

Epidemic

Answer 22

Occurrence of more cases in a population in a period of time

Question 23

Pandemic

Answer 23

Epidemic in a broad area

Question 24

Endemic

Answer 24

Constant presence of a disease in a population

Question 25

Morbidity

Answer 25

Departure from state of well being (disease)

Question 26

Mortality

Answer 26

Death

Question 27

Mortality Rate

Answer 27

Frequency of death occurrence in a period of time

Question 28

Medical Pluralism

Answer 28

Multiple healing systems in a culture -cultural beliefs and relationship to other traditions Common in State Level Societies Alternative Medicines replace biomedical practices Ethnocentrism and Ethnomediocentric Bias

Question 29

Adaptationism

Answer 29

View that most traits are "optimal adaptations" | Speices may be successful in but poorly adapted to their environment

Question 30

Behavioral Adaptability

Answer 30

Important in Humans because we have large brains Good at Niche- Constructing (modify Landscape/change env) Changes present challenges in the future

Question 31

Biological Normalcy

Answer 31

Needed to understand disease and to establish a relationship between traits and increased/decreased risk of disease State Vs. Range Can be applied to what appears to be "abnormal states" HOWEVER, abnormality can be applied to what are infact normal states Medicalization and Pathologization

Question 32

Alternative Medicine

Answer 32

Medical practices that are undertaken to replace standard biomedicine practice

Question 33

Complementary Medicines

Answer 33

Used in conjunction with standard biomedical practice

Question 34

Healers

Answer 34

Restore health Strongly influenced by culture Different cultures have different criteria for becoming a healer

Question 35

Systematicity

Answer 35

Evidence-Based Medicine Differential diagnosis/decision making trees Existence of such efforts suggest a response to non systematic nature of such practices

Question 36

Evolution and Health

Answer 36

Much of the concern is what we are NOT adapted for - mismatch Mistmatch between the environment we have evolved FOR and the environment we're in right now

Question 37

Natural Selection

Answer 37

1. Variation in a Population 2. Variations are genetically heritable 3. Organisms compete for limited resources

Question 38

More favorable Traits

Answer 38

More successful in 1. Surviving 2. Reproducing 3. Naturally selected over time

Question 39

Fitness

Answer 39

Relative ability of an organism to survive and transmit its genes

Question 40

Recognizing an adaptation

Answer 40

1. Trait is a variation of an earlier form 2. Trait is Heritable 3. Trait enhances reproductive success

Question 41

Context of Adaptations

Answer 41

Context Specific or Environment of Evolutionary adaptation

Question 42

Peppered Moth

Answer 42

Industrial melanism in England - White moths favoured before industrialization as they blend with the tree bark. After industrialization and the trees are covered in soot, the black moths now blend in with the trees and are thus favoured.

Question 43

Adaptation Implications

Answer 43

Involve Trade Offs Maximize fitness NOT health e.g Humans walk up right but can't move very quickly