Chapter 1: Antro Notes

Chapter 1- Introduction: the scope of medical anthropology

- Medical anthro:
• How people in diff cultures explain the causes of ill health , types of treatment they believe in and whom they turn to when ill
- Anthropology
• “The study of man” (several branches)
1) Physical Anthropology
• Human biology
• Study of evolution of humans
• Concerned with explaining the causes of present diversity of human populations
1) Material Anthropology
• Deals with art and artifacts of humankind, present and past
1) Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Comparative study of present day human societies and their cultural systems (2 diff approaches) o Social:
• Emphasizes social dimensions of human life
• People are social animals, organized into groups that regulate and perpetuate themselves o Cultural:
• System’s of symbols, ideas and meanings that comprise a culture and of which social organization is just an expression

• Keesing and Strathern o SOCIETY; total social system whose members share a common language and cultural tradition
• Boundaries of societies are vague; people organize themselves into various groups, hierarchies and roles within a given society


THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE:
• Taylor’s definition of culture o Complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
• Keensing and Stathern o Systems of shared ideas, systems of concepts and rules and meanings that underlie and are expressed in the ways that human beings live
• From these definitions o Culture is the set of guidelines that individuals inherit as members of a particular society. o Provides them with a way of transmitting these guidelines to the next generation o Can be seen as an inherited “lens” through which the individual perceives and understands the world that he inhabits and learns how to live within it
• Enculturation: slowly acquires the cultural ‘lens’ of that society
• Edward T. Hall o 3 different levels of culture
• Tertiary level culture
• Explicit manifest culture; visible to the outsider
• Ex: social rituals, traditional dress, national cuisine and festive occasions,
• Secondary level culture
• Underlying rules and assumptions are known to the members of the group but rarely shared with outsiders
• Primary level culture
• Rules are known to all, obeyed by all but seldom if ever stated
• Deeper levels are most hidden, stable and resistant to change
• Leach o All societies have more than one culture within their borders o Ex: social stratification into social classes castes or ranks and each stratum is marked by its own distinctive cultural attribution
• Acculturation: o Incorporate some of the cultural attributes of the larger society but others will not.
• Subcultures: o People form a group apart, wit their own concepts, rules and social organizations o Ex: Doctors, lawyers, (career cultures)
• People acquire a very diff. perspective on life form those who are outside the profession
• Complex societies are never homogenous, many different views of the world coexisting.
• Culture is therefore a fluid concept o Most societies are undergoing change and adaptation
• Biculturalism: o Individuals, families and even communities can occupy 2 or more cultures of subcultures. o Very true for immigrants The Context of Culture
• Many influences on health related beliefs and behaviors;
1. Individual Factors
2. Educational Factors
3. Socio-economic Factors
4. Environmental Factors Misuses of the concept of culture
• Cant make broad generalizations about the members of any human group