AN 341 - Culture, Illness, and Healing

An overview of the sub-field of medical anthropology providing a detailed look at culture, health and healing in several different cultures. In this course we apply an anthropological perspective to the study of illness, health and healing cross-culturally. We explore how different cultures decide what are normal and abnormal states of mind and body and how they “should” be healed. How is the body a symbolic template for collective categories and values? This is also a course within the fields of psychological and anthropology of religion. We also consider how American notions of body, self and mind increasingly shape the expression of mental illness around the globe and the ongoing relationship between globalization and Western psychologization. We explore the migration of certain forms of healing from East to West and how they change in the process of becoming Americanized. In the process of exploring other cultural conceptions of health and healing, we will question and critically examine American assumptions about health, healing, the self and sickness.

Prerequisites: AN 109

Full course