COURSE READINGS

Course readings are assigned for every class:

Textbook: McElroy/Townsend, Medical Anthropology
Articles: Copies of a set of articles are available in PDF files below in a separate browser, and can also be checked out from the Anthropology office in CA 410

Remember the readings serve several functions. The text readings review important concepts and examples relevant to Medical Anthropology. The articles generally discuss selected case examples, rather than broad concepts about the class topic; but these are relevant to building meaningful understandings of these topics. We may not agree with all the contents of the readings, but they will serve as a basis of class discussion to build our conceptual understandings and practical applications about the field of Medical Anthropology.

Assigned Readings

The following readings are listed by author in alphabetic order, so be sure to follow the specific readings specified in the course schedule: Textbook:

McElroy, Ann, and Patricia K. Townsend
1996	Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective.  Westview.

Articles (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader):

Ackerknecht, Erwin H.
  1947	"Primitive Surgery."  American Anthropologist 49:1:25-45.
	(Also, pp. 164-180 in Michael H. Logan, and Edward E. Hunt, eds.,
        Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
Armelagos, George J., Alan Goodman, and Kenneth H. Jacobs
  1976	"The Ecological Perspective in Disease."  The Ecologist
	6:2:40-45.  (Also, pp. 71-83 in Michael H. Logan, and Edward E. Hunt,
        eds., Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
Barrett, Ronald, Christopher W. Kuzawa, Thomas McDade, and George J. Armelagos
  1998	"Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases: The Third Epidemiologic
	Transition."  Annual Review of Anthropology 27:247-271.
Black, Francis L.
  1990	"Infectious Disease and Evolution of Human Populations: The Example
	of South American Forest Tribes."  Ch. 4 (pp. 55-74) in Alan C.
	Swedlund, and George J. Armelagos, eds., Disease in Populations in
	Transition.  Bergin/Garvey.
Cassel, John C.
  1955	"A Comprehensive Health Program Among South African Zulus."
	Ch. 1 (pp. 15-41) in Benjamin D. Paul, ed., Health, Culture, and
	Community.  Russell Sage.
Del Guercio, Gino
1996	"The Secrets of Haiti's Living Dead."  Harvard Magazine
	January-February:31-37.
Dettwyler, Katherine A.
  1997	"The Biocultural Approach in Nutritional Anthropology: Case Studies
	of Malnutrition in Mali."  Medical Anthropology 15:1:17-39.
	(Also, pp. 389-401 in Peter J. Brown, ed., Understanding and Applying
	Medical Anthropology.  Mayfield.  1998.)
Dubos, René
  1965	"Man Meets His Environment."  Ch. 13 (pp. 344-368) in Man
	Adapting.  Yale U. Press.
Finkler, Kaja
  1994	"Sacred Healing and Biomedicine Compared."  Medical Anthropology
	Quarterly 8:2:178-197.
Frake, Charles O.
  1977	"The Diagnosis of Disease Among the Subanum of Mindanao."
	American Anthropologist 63:113-132.  (Also, pp. 183-194 in David
	Landy, ed., Culture, Disease, and Healing.  Macmillan.  1977.)
Harner, Michael J.
  1968	"[Jívaro:] The Sound of Rushing Water."  Natural History
	77:6:28-33.  (Also, pp. 188-194 in Michael H. Logan, and Edward E. Hunt,
        eds., Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
Kendall, Carl, Dennis Foote, and Reynaldo Martoell
  1984	"Ethnomedicine and Oral Rehydration Therapy."  Social Science
	and Medicine 19:253-260.  (Also, pp. 415-422 in, Peter J. Brown, ed.,
	Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology.  Mayfield.  1998.)
Kunitz, Steven J.
  1983a	"Disease Patterns on the Navajo Reservation."  Ch. 3 (pp. 64-117)
	in Disease Change and the Role of Medicine.  U. of California Press.
Kunitz, Steven J.
  1983b	"[Navajo] Health Care Utilization."  Ch. 5 (146-178) in Disease
	Change and the Role of Medicine.  U. of California Press.
Lee, Richard B.
  1967	"Trance Cure of the !Kung Bushman."  Natural History
	76:9:30-37.  (Also, pp. 195-202 in Michael H. Logan, and Edward E. Hunt,
        eds., Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
Levy, Gerrold
  1983	"Traditional Navajo Health Beliefs and Practices."  Ch. 4 (118-145)
	in Steven J. Kunitz, Disease Change and the Role of Medicine.  U. of
	California Press.
Logan, Michael H.
  1973a	"Digestive Disorders and Plant Medicinals in Highland Guatemala."
	Anthropos 68:538-547.  (Also, pp. 180-188 in Michael H. Logan, and
	Edward E. Hunt, eds., Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
Logan, Michael H.
  1973b	"Humoral Medicine in Guatemala and Peasant Acceptance of Modern
	Medicine."  Human Organization 32:4:385-395.
Malhotra, Kailash C.
  1990	"Changing Patterns of Disease in India with Special Reference to
	Childhood Mortality."  Ch. 17 (pp. 313-331) in Alan C. Swedlund, and
	George J. Armelagos, eds., Disease in Populations in Transition.
	Bergin/Garvey.
McCullough, John M.
  1973	"Human Ecology, Heat Adaptation, and Belief Systems: The Hot-Cold
	Syndrome of Yucatan."  Journal of Anthropological Research
	29:1:32-36.  (Also, pp. 241-245 in Michael H. Logan, and Edward E. Hunt,
	eds., Health and the Human Condition.  Duxbury.  1978.)
McKeown, Thomas
  1978	"Determinants of Health."  Human Nature Magazine (April).
	(Also, pp. 70-76 in Peter J. Brown, ed., Understanding and Applying
	Medical Anthropology.  Mayfield.  1998.)
Nichter, Mark, and Elizabeth Cartwright
  1991	"Saving the Children for the Tobacco Industry."  Medical
	Anthropology Quarterly 5:3:236-256.
Rubel, Arthur J., Carl W. O'Nell, and Rolando Collado-Ardón
  1984a	"Description of Susto."  Ch. 3 (pp. 30-48) in Susto: A Folk
	Illness.  U. of California Press.
Rubel, Arthur J., Carl W. O'Nell, and Rolando Collado-Ardón
  1984b	"Interrelationships Among Results."  Ch. 6 (pp. 112-122) in
	Susto: A Folk Illness.  U. of California Press.
Singer, Merrill
  1995	"Beyond the Ivory Tower: Critical Praxis in Medical Anthropology."
	Medical Anthropology Quarterly 9:1:80-106.
Turner, Victor W.
  1968	"Ndembu Divination and Its Symbolism."  Ch. 6 (pp. 25-51) in
	The Drums of Affliction.  Clarendon Press.  (Also, pp. 175-183 in
	David Landy, ed., Culture, Disease, and Healing.  Macmillan.  1977.)
White, Sydney D.
  1998	"From 'Barefoot Doctor' to 'Village Doctor' in Tiger Springs Village:
	A Case Study of Rural Health Care Transformations in Socialist China."
	Human Organization 57:4:480-490.
Whiting, Beatriz Blyth
  1950	"Paiute Sorcery: Sickness and Social Control."  Pp. 27-66 in
	Paiute Sorcery.  Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
	(Also, pp. 210-218 in David Landy, ed., Culture, Disease, and Healing.
	Macmillan.  1977.)
Wolff, B. Berthold, and Sarah Langley
  1968	"Cultural Factors and the Response to Pain."  American
	Anthropologist 70:494-501.  (Also, pp. 313-319 in David Landy, ed.,
	Culture, Disease, and Healing.  Macmillan.  1977.)

Again, we do not necessarily have to agree with all the contents of these readings, but they have been chosen to raise ideas and issues for class evaluation and learning.