What is Medical Anthropology?

The first chapter of “Introducing Medical Anthropology” by Merrill Singer and Hans Baer, describes the importance of the relationship between culture, society, and health.

What is Medical Anthropology?

Medical Anthropology is a term that is very confusing to many, including myself, because it seems as though there could be many different meanings. As many people know, it is the study of how cultural, social, and economic factors impact health, illness, and healing techniques, but it was news to me that this is just the surface of the practice. I found it very interesting that the authors emphasized that health goes well beyond biological aspects of life, and social aspects have almost as much to do with it. This is very interesting because I feel as though this could open up the exploration of health disparities worldwide. After hearing how deep and vast Medical Anthropology is, I was wondering what would the definition of it be. However, the authors explain that there can’t actually be a definite definition, but the book as a whole will define Medical Anthropology.

Historical Context

The authors provide brief historical context about the origin of Medical Anthropology, and they describe that it is very interlinked between Anthropology and Public Health. This field is almost a deeper dive into addressing complex health issues in various sociocultural contexts. I believe this to be very important, because it gives more recognition to the importance of cultural impacts in health. Therefore, I am sure that this was very important in something like the COVID-19 pandemic because it was so major and worldwide.

The Biocultural Perspective

One concept covered in this chapter that really stuck out to me was the biocultural perspective. The authors explained that in order to fully understand health, we have to examine both biological and cultural factors of a persons life. For example, if there are dietary habits that are shaped by cultural beliefs, there could be health issues related to diets in specific regions.

Health Disparities

It didn’t come as a surprise to me that health disparities specifically relating class, race, and gender, are a major part of Medical Anthropology. The authors explain that these factors can cause barriers to accessing care which would overall lead to different health outcomes in these given populations. I think that this is a major social justice problem and although it is great that Medical Anthropology recognizes this, we still need to make changes to stop this.

Conclusion

The first chapter of “Introducing Medical Anthropology” provides a good summary of what Medical Anthropology is and what it can do for the world. I believe that Medical Anthropology can make a huge difference not only in keeping populations healthy based on research, but I think that it could also make some very good changes regarding social justice in the healthcare system.

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Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.

Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.