The third edition of Introducing Medical Anthropology: A Discipline in Action, provides students with a first exposure to the growing field of medical and health anthropology. The narrative is guided by unifying themes. First, health-oriented anthropologists are very involved in the process of helping, to varying degrees, to change the world around them through their work in applied projects, policy initiatives, and advocacy. Second, the authors present the fundamental importance of culture and social relationships in health and illness by demonstrating that illness and disease involve complex biosocial processes and that resolving them requires attention to a range of factors beyond biology. Third, through an examination of the issue of health inequality, this book underlines the need for an analysis that moves beyond cultural or even ecological models of health toward a comprehensive biosocial approach. Such an approach integrates biological, cultural, and social factors in building unified theoretical understandings of the origin of ill health, while contributing to the building of effective and equitable national health-care systems. NEW TO THIS EDITION All chapters have been updated or expanded.NEW: Chapter 8, “The Biopolitics of Life: Biotechnology, Biocapital, and Bioethics.”•Revised text style for crisper language and livelier phrasing.
Added a brief signposting of chapter content at the beginning of each chapter and reviewquestions about the key issues and concepts at the end of each chapter.
Expanded discussion of Zika, Ebola, gender and health, PTSD and psychological anthropol-ogy, geriatric health, the contemporary vaccine controversy, the internet and health, and thehealth impacts of fracking and nuclear energy development.
Concluding chapter examines anthropologically informed strategies and visions for a health-ier world.
By:
Merrill Singer,
Hans Baer,
Debbi Long,
Alex Pavlotski,
Alex Pavlotski
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 3rd edition
Dimensions:
Height: 230mm,
Width: 166mm,
Spine: 13mm
Weight: 381g
ISBN: 9781538106464
ISBN 10: 1538106469
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 20 March 2019
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface About the Authors Chapter 1 Introduction to the Anthropology of Health Chapter 2 What Health Anthropologists Do Chapter 3 Understanding Health, Illness, and Disease Chapter 4 Health Disparity, Health Inequality Chapter 5 Health and the Environment: Toward a Healthier World Chapter 6 Ethnomedicine: The Worlds of Treatment and Healing Chapter 7 Plural Medical Systems: Complexity, Complementarity and Conflict Chapter 8 The Biopolitics of Life: Biotechnology, Biocapital, and Bioethics Chapter 9: Strategies and Visions for a Healthier World Source Material for Students Glossary References Index
Merrill Singer is a professor of anthropology and senior research scientist at the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention at the University of Connecticut. Hans A. Baer is Principal Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Social Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Debbi Long is a Senior Lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Alex Pavlotski is a Teaching Fellow at Aukland University, New Zeland, and an honorary research fellow at Latrobe University in Australia
