Publisher Description

A Companion to Medical Anthropology examines the current issues, controversies, and state of the field in medical anthropology today. Provides an expert view of the major topics and themes to concern the discipline since its founding in the 1960sWritten by leading international scholars in medical anthropologyCovers environmental health, global health, biotechnology, syndemics, nutrition, substance abuse, infectious disease, and sexuality and reproductive health, and other topics

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BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY A Companion to Medical Anthropology "It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute "A Companion to Medical Anthropology, edited by Merrill Singer and Pamela I. Erickson, is quite simply the best overview that is currently available of the field of medical anthropology in the early 21st century. The chapters brought together in this volume provide not only a definitive overview of an intellectual field, but also a clear sense of medical anthropology's engagement with the world of politics, policy and practice. This is critical social research at its very best." Richard G. Parker, Columbia University "With its broad scope and accomplished contributors, this volume will be a primary reference for all medical anthropologists and students of the field. Its comprehensive coverage extends both to dominant and emerging themes in the discipline." James Trostle, Trinity College In a global environment of enormous health challenges, medical anthropologists offer important understandings of health systems and healing practices around the world. These leading international scholars assess our persisting problems of malnutrition, chronic and infectious diseases, and the influence of escalating levels of inequality, poverty, war, and genocide. A Companion to Medical Anthropology examines the key issues and controversies in medical anthropology today. Singer and Erickson present a thorough assessment of a specific area of medical anthropology, including expert overviews of major topics such as environmental health, global health, biotechnology, syndemics, nutrition, substance abuse, infectious disease, and sexuality and reproductive health. The authors also provide a guide to future trends and the emerging issues that will shape the future of medical anthropology and global health for years to come.

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BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY A Companion to Medical Anthropology "It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute "A Companion to Medical Anthropology, edited by Merrill Singer and Pamela I. Erickson, is quite simply the best overview that is currently available of the field of medical anthropology in the early 21st century. The chapters brought together in this volume provide not only a definitive overview of an intellectual field, but also a clear sense of medical anthropology's engagement with the world of politics, policy and practice. This is critical social research at its very best." Richard G. Parker, Columbia University "With its broad scope and accomplished contributors, this volume will be a primary reference for all medical anthropologists and students of the field. Its comprehensive coverage extends both to dominant and emerging themes in the discipline." James Trostle, Trinity College In a global environment of enormous health challenges, medical anthropologists offer important understandings of health systems and healing practices around the world. These leading international scholars assess our persisting problems of malnutrition, chronic and infectious diseases, and the influence of escalating levels of inequality, poverty, war, and genocide. A Companion to Medical Anthropology examines the key issues and controversies in medical anthropology today. Singer and Erickson present a thorough assessment of a specific area of medical anthropology, including expert overviews of major topics such as environmental health, global health, biotechnology, syndemics, nutrition, substance abuse, infectious disease, and sexuality and reproductive health. The authors also provide a guide to future trends and the emerging issues that will shape the future of medical anthropology and global health for years to come.

Author Biography

Merrill Singer is Professor at the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut; and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention. Pamela I. Erickson is Professor at the Department of Anthropology and Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Synopsis of Contents viii List of Figures xix List of Tables xx Notes on Contributors xxi Acknowledgments – Personal xxxii Acknowledgments – Sources xxxiii Introduction 1 Part I Theories, Applications, and Methods 7 1 Medical Anthropology in Disciplinary Context: Definitional Struggles and Key Debates (or Answering the Cri Du Coeur) 9
Elisa J. Sobo 2 Critical Biocultural Approaches in Medical Anthropology 29
Tom Leatherman and Alan H. Goodman 3 Applied Medical Anthropology: Praxis, Pragmatics, Politics, and Promises 49
Robert T. Trotter, II 4 Research Design and Methods in Medical Anthropology 69
Clarence C. Gravlee 5 Medical Anthropology and Public Policy 93
Merrill Eisenberg Part II Contexts and Conditions 117 6 Culture and the Stress Process 119
William W. Dressler 7 Global Health 135
Craig R. Janes and Kitty K. Corbett 8 Syndemics in Global Health 159
Merrill Singer, D. Ann Herring, Judith Littleton, and Melanie Rock 9 The Ecology of Disease and Health 181
Patricia K. Townsend 10 The Medical Anthropology of Water 197
Linda M. Whiteford and Cecilia Vindrola Padros 11 Political Violence, War and Medical Anthropology 219
Barbara Rylko-Bauer and Merrill Singer Part III Health and Behavior 251 12 Humans in a World of Microbes: The Anthropology of Infectious Disease 253
Peter J. Brown, George J. Armelagos, and Kenneth C. Maes 13 Sexuality, Medical Anthropology, and Public Health 271
Pamela I. Erickson 14 Situating Birth in the Anthropology of Reproduction 289
Carolyn Sargent and Lauren Gulbas 15 Nutrition and Health 305
David A. Himmelgreen, Nancy Romero Daza and Charlotte A. Noble 16 Anthropologies of Cancer and Risk, Uncertainty and Disruption 323
Lenore Manderson 17 Generation RX: Anthropological Research on Pharmaceutical Enhancement, Lifestyle Regulation, Self-Medication and Recreational Drug Use 339
Gilbert Quintero and Mark Nichter 18 Anthropology and the Study of Illicit Drug Use 357
J. Bryan Page Part IV Healthwork: Care, Treatment, and Communication 379 19 Ethnomedicine 381
Marsha B. Quinlan 20 Medical Pluralism: An Evolving and Contested Concept in Medical Anthropology 405
Hans A. Baer 21 Biotechnologies of Care 425
Julie Park and Ruth Fitzgerald 22 Social Interaction and Technology: Cultural Competency and the Universality of Good Manners 443
Kathryn Coe, Gail Barker, and Craig Palmer 23 Biocommunicability 459
Charles L. Briggs 24 Anthropology at the End of Life 477
Ron Barrett Part V The Road Ahead 491 25 Operationalizing a Right to Health: Theorizing a National Health System as a "Commons" 493
Sandy Smith-Nonini and Beverly Bell 26 As the Future Explodes into the Present: Emergent Issues and the Tomorrow of Medical Anthropology 515
Merrill Singer and Pamela I. Erickson Index 533

Review

"It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism."—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Long Description

In a global environment of enormous health challenges, medical anthropologists offer important understandings of health systems and healing practices around the world. These leading international scholars assess our persisting problems of malnutrition, chronic and infectious diseases, and the influence of escalating levels of inequality, poverty, war, and genocide. A Companion to Medical Anthropology examines the key issues and controversies in medical anthropology today.

Review Text

?It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism.?  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute "A Companion to Medical Anthropology, edited by Merrill Singer and Pamela I. Erickson, is quite simply the best overview that is currently available of the field of medical anthropology in the early 21st century.  The chapters brought together in this volume provide not only a definitive overview of an intellectual field, but also a clear sense of medical anthropology's engagement with the world of politics, policy and practice.  This is critical social research at its very best."
Richard G. Parker, Columbia University  "With its broad scope and accomplished contributors, this volume will be a primary reference for all medical anthropologists and students of the field.  Its comprehensive coverage extends both to dominant and emerging themes in the discipline." 
James Trostle, Trinity College

Review Quote

"It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism."-- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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