The course provides an introduction to the field of medical anthropology. It includes the application of different forms of social and cultural analysis to the study of health, illness, and healing. Examples of medical systems and medical practices are drawn from a range of cultures including our own. In the first part of the course the scope of medical anthropology will be covered and different approaches to the understanding of the body discussed. An important aspect of medical anthropology is the study of the social and cultural construction of illness and illness categories, healers and their roles, the foundations of efficacy in healing, and the place of individual and social agency in health and illness which will be covered in detail. In the second half of the course health and human rights, pharmaceuticals and ethics of medical research and organ trafficking will be the centre of the discussion.

The course aims to provide a critical understanding of health care systems and political economy of health, illness and healing with a specific focus on the context in which health inequalities are experienced, how they are historically constructed and why they are maintained in the current realities. In this course we will use case studies from across the world to explore the historical, environmental, biosocial, political economic and socio-cultural factors that influence individual and collective therapy management, local healing practices, national health care, and medical research and health policies in their local, national and international context. In addition, the case studies will be used to analyse fundamental medical anthropological concepts and theories and to critically analyse academic writing.

Students who satisfy the requirements of this course will have the knowledge and skills:

• to demonstrate a critical appreciation of the key concepts and approaches in medical anthropology
• to engage in health work and understand the likely social, cultural, political and economic factors influencing health, illness and sickness
• to reflect critically on their own experiences of health and inequality in Australia in the light of the concepts and methods introduced in this course.
  

Class wiki contributions (25%), 1000-word class glossary entry (20%), annotated bibliography and abstract (15%), 2500-word essay (30%) and tutorial participation (10%)

2 hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week.

Any two First Year courses from any Faculty or permission of the lecturer.

*No required reading. However, the following texts are recommended as background reading:

Brown, P.J (1998) Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology: Second Edition.  Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. 
Sargent, C.F and T.M Johnson (1996) Medical Anthropology: ContemporaryTheory and Method, Revised Edition.  Westport, CT: Praeger.