Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective

by McElroy, Ann; Townsend, Patricia K.; Erickson, Pamela I. (CON); Himmelgreen, David A. (CON); Lee, Richard V. (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780813343846
• ISBN10: 0813343844
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-29
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Widespread awareness of emerging infectious diseases and global environmental change makes the ecological perspective of this premier teaching text for medical anthropology as relevant as ever. Integrating biocultural, environmental, and evolutionary approaches to the study of human health, this fifth edition is now thoroughly revised to reflect new developments in the field. Research by human biologists and paleopathologists illuminates the history and prehistory of disease, while the work of cultural and applied anthropologists addresses contemporary health issues. The fifth edition features five new profiles by guest contributors, all leading researchers on health and environment. New topics include community health and disease prevention in urban America; water-borne disease in Ecuador; iodine deficiency in the Himalaya; stress and demographic change in northern Siberia; and participatory action research in Costa Rica. Also included is updated and expanded consideration of refugee health, global aspects of HIV/AIDS, and careers in applied medical anthropology.

Author Biography

Ann McElroy is Associate Professor of Anthropology at State University of New York at Buffalo, where Patricia K. Townsend is a Research Associate Professor. Ann McElroy is Associate Professor of Anthropology at State University of New York at Buffalo, where Patricia K. Townsend is a Research Associate Professor.

Table of Contents

List of Profiles	p. xiii
About the Authors and Contributors	p. xv
Preface to the Fifth Edition	p. xvii
The Ecology of Health and Disease	p. 1
Preview	p. 2
Studying Nepali Children: An Example of Medical Anthropology	p. 2
Environment, Culture, and Health	p. 7
Profile: Arctic Adaptations	p. 16
A Working Model of Ecology and Health	p. 28
Resources	p. 31
Interdisciplinary Research in Health Problems	p. 33
Preview	p. 34
The Nature of Collaboration	p. 34
Bio-Environmental Data	p. 37
Profile: Cannibal Mourners	p. 42
Clinical Data	p. 46
Epidemiological Data	p. 49
Social and Cultural Data	p. 53
Becoming a Medical Anthropologist	p. 62
Profile: Learning Field Methods in Costa Rica	p. 63
Fieldwork Ethics	p. 69
Medical Anthropology at Work	p. 72
Conclusions	p. 79
Resources	p. 80
Genes, Culture, and Adaptation	p. 81
Preview	p. 82
Human Variability and Adaptation	p. 82
Adaptation Through Biological Evolution	p. 85
Skin Color and Adaptation	p. 91
Evolution and Human Immune Systems	p. 92
Profile: Malaria and Agriculture	p. 96
Evolution and Medicine	p. 100
Physiological and Developmental Adaptation	p. 103
Cultural Adaptation	p. 108
Direct Medical Control Strategies	p. 110
Variability and Change in Cultural Systems	p. 113
Studying Adaptation	p. 115
Profile: Local Differences in Iodine Deficiency Goiter in the Western Himalaya	p. 118
Studying Adaptation to Illness and Disability	p. 124
Conclusions	p. 127
Resources	p. 128
Changing Patterns of Disease and Health	p. 131
Preview	p. 132
Culture as Environment	p. 133
The Study of Population	p. 134
Profile: Infant Survival in a Papua New Guinea Society	p. 136
Life and Death in Hunter-Gatherer Camps and Farming Villages	p. 143
Paleopathology: The Study of Disease in Prehistory	p. 148
Life and Death in the Preindustrial City	p. 152
Profile: The Black Death	p. 153
Life and Death in Industrial Society	p. 157
Conclusions	p. 166
Resources	p. 167
The Ecology and Economics of Nutrition	p. 169
Preview	p. 170
Human Foodways and Nutritional Needs	p. 170
Subsistence by Hunting and Gathering	p. 173
Nutrition in Prehistory	p. 177
Profile: Dry Bones: Health in Southwestern Prehistory	p. 180
Subsistence in the Humid Tropics	p. 183
Agriculture	p. 186
Profile: Famine in Ethiopia	p. 193
Industrial Agriculture	p. 198
The Global Epidemic of Malnutrition	p. 201
Breast or Bottle	p. 206
The Anthropology of Food and Cooking	p. 209
All That Goes in the Mouth Is Not Food	p. 212
Conclusions	p. 214
Resources	p. 214
Culture, Ecology, and Reproduction	p. 217
Preview	p. 218
Three Birth Stories	p. 218
Well-Being in Pregnancy: Biological and Social Factors	p. 224
Profile: Pregnancy Beliefs and Food Taboos in Malaysia	p. 226
Care Providers in Pregnancy and Birth	p. 230
Species-Specific Reproductive Patterns	p. 237
Fecundity and Fertility	p. 242
Profile: Using Anthropological Methods to Understand Condom Use for STI Prevention in the Inner City	p. 253
Reproduction and Social Support Systems	p. 259
Conclusions	p. 264
Resources	p. 264
Stress, Illness, and Healing	p. 267
Preview	p. 268
The Concept of Stress	p. 268
Understanding the Physiology of Stress	p. 271
Profile: Stress, Social Support, and Health: The Dressler Research	p. 277
Can Stress Induce Healing?	p. 283
Stress and Psychiatric Disorders	p. 286
Alcohol Abuse	p. 293
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	p. 295
Populations Under Stress	p. 297
Profile: Stress, Alcohol, and Demographic Change in Northern Siberia	p. 298
Environmental Disasters as Stressors	p. 304
Resilience: A Buffer Against Stress	p. 306
Conclusions	p. 308
Resources	p. 309
Health Resources in Changing Cultures	p. 311
Preview	p. 312
The Story of Ishi	p. 313
Change and Adaptation	p. 314
Models for the Study of Contact Processes	p. 316
Repercussions of Culture Contact on Health in the Arctic	p. 319
Profile: Culture Change and Inuit Health: Two Families	p. 327
Health Care as an Adaptive System	p. 332
Decisions About Care	p. 337
Refugee Health Care	p. 342
Anthropology and HIV/AIDS	p. 348
Conclusions	p. 357
Resources	p. 357
Costs and Benefits of Development	p. 359
Preview	p. 360
Spirit Possession in a Malaysian Factory	p. 361
Globalization and Health	p. 363
Water Systems, Disease, and Applied Medical Anthropology	p. 374
Profile: The Medical Ecology of Cholera in Ecuador	p. 375
Strategies for Improving Health	p. 382
Health Disparities in Developed Economies	p. 385
Paying the Costs of Industrial Development	p. 392
Profile: Hazardous Waste and the Mohawks at Akwesasne	p. 393
The Anthropology of Trouble	p. 399
Conclusions	p. 405
Resources	p. 406
Medical Anthropologists at Work: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century	p. 409
Preview	p. 410
Violence and Terror: The Work of Forensic Anthropologists	p. 410
The AIDS Pandemic: Medical Anthropologists in International Health	p. 415
Contemporary Medicine and Its Discontents	p. 421
Conclusions	p. 426
Resources	p. 427
Projects in Medical Anthropology	p. 429
References Cited	p. 433
Index	p. 483
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