The anthropology of health and healing

385 Pages·2010·1.19 MB·English

by  Mari Womack

The Anthropology of
Health and Healing
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The Anthropology of
Health and Healing
Mari Womack
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Published by AltaMira Press
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright © 2010 by AltaMira Press
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Womack, Mari.
The anthropology of health and healing/Mari Womack.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7591-1043-4 (cloth: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7591-1044-1
(pbk.: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7591-1861-4 (electronic)
1. Medical anthropology. 2. Public health—Anthropological aspects. 3. Human
body—Social aspects. I. Title.
GN296.W645 2010
306.4'61—dc22
2009040400
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To my mother, Clara Rita Van Gennip Nall;
my brother, Edward Nall; and the excellent staff
at the UCLA Medical Center
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Contents
Preface: A Tribute to My Teachers xi
Introduction: The Anthropology of Health and Healing 1
Part I: The Psychobiology of Health and Healing 9
1 Models of the Body, the Self, and the Human Experience 11
Taming the Body 14
The Rebellious Body 17
Medicine and the Body as Machine 19
Concepts of the Body, Illness, and Power 25
2 Constructing Gender: The Body in Social Context 29
The Social Context of Genital Alteration 41
Constructing Gender 46
Hijras of India 48
3 The Biology of Psychology and the Psychology of Biology 55
Western Philosophy and the Mind-Body Dichotomy 56
The Biology of the Brain 58
Synapses: Communication Circuitry of the Brain 60
The Social Context of Human Brain Development 62
Communication, Cognition, and Abstract Thought 64
Issues in Studying the Human Brain 65
Biology and Cognition 69
Emotions, Health, and Illness 71
4 Metaphor, Labeling Theory, and the Placebo Effect 75
What’s in a Name? 76
Folk Taxonomies and Explanations of Illness 84
vii
viii Contents
Part II: Maintaining Health and Healing the Whole Person 91
5 The Human Life Cycle: Coming of Age 93
Concepts Regarding Conception 95
Pregnancy: Who Owns the Embryo? 100
Childbirth 102
Infancy 109
Childhood 115
6 The Human Life Cycle: The Reproductive Years 123
Becoming a Parent 133
Sharing the Burden: The Biology and Sociology of Paternity 138
Grandparenthood 140
7 The Human Life Cycle: Growing Old and Growing Good 145
Attitudes Toward Aging 147
Aging and Medicine 150
8 Lifestyle and Health 153
Play, Flow, and Health 154
Cooperation and Collaboration 157
Nutrition, Health, and the Culture of Food Preference 159
Illness and Agriculture 164
Asceticism and Ritual Purity 166
Part III: Models of Diagnosis and Treatment 169
9 Biomedicine and the Scientific Approach 171
Medical Anthropology in the Field 173
Western Medicine: A Brief History 175
Western Biomedicine and Science 179
Environmental Selection and Human Variability 181
Genetics and Medicine 184
Why Western Biomedicine Is Not a Cure-All 185
10 Restoring the Balance: Asian Models of Health and Healing 191
Energy Models and Science 193
TheYinandYangof Chinese Medicine 196
Chinese Healing Techniques—Acupuncture 203
Ayurveda: An Ancient Healing Tradition with New Advocates 207
11 Calling on the Spirits: Shamans, Sorcerers, and Mediums 213
The History and Psychology of Shamanism 215
The “Shamanic Career”: Becoming a Shaman 220
Shamanism Compared to Psychosis 222
Integrating Medical Systems 224
Contents ix
12 The Emerging Field of Integrative Medicine 227
What Is “Efficacy”? 230
Efficacy and the Practice of Medicine 232
An Experiment in Integrative Medicine 234
Part IV: Contemporary Issues in Health and Healing 243
13 The Social Context of Epidemics 245
The Malaria Pandemic 247
HIV/AIDS 250
Epidemics, Animals, and Social Status 252
HIV and Tuberculosis: An Epidemiological Time Bomb 254
Developmental Disorders 257
Evolution and Epidemiology 262
Global Warming and Epidemiology 265
14 Medicines, Herbs, and Dietary Supplements 269
Traditional Pharmacology: Healing and Dreaming 270
Science and Controlled Experiments 272
Drug Trials 274
A “Pill-Popping Society” 277
The Natural History of Herbs 283
Scientific Metaphors 286
15 Public Policy and Health-Care Delivery Systems 289
The Geneva Conventions 290
Social Inequality and Availability of Medical Care 291
Medicine and Public Policy 293
Population and Public Policy 293
The Human Cost of Malnutrition 297
Medical Tourism 305
Notes 309
Glossary 327
References 339
Index 351
About the Author 367