EGST 0260 - Introduction to Medical Anthropology

Credits: 3

Crosslisted: ANTH 0260 .

This course is a case-study introduction to medical anthropology as practiced today. We will study how a variety of non-Western cultures interpret and treat what we in the West think of as universal health concerns, such as birth, sickness, death and dying, and mental illness. We will study how healing and the body can be understood in a variety of cultural ways, in different worldviews, languages, and symbol systems that are the context for often very complex health care and prevention models. Students will learn how a variety of different practitioners and health specialists across the globe, such as midwives, "medicine" people, shaman and religious practitioners, and our own medically licensed doctors and nurses, symbolize and treat illness to improve health and vitality.

Prerequisites: EGST 0101  or EGST 0102  or ANTH 0101 .

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