This webpage was created as a final project for ANP 204, a course at Michigan State University titled Introduction to Medical Anthropology. Throughout the course, I learned the different ways medicine and culture interact and that they are not independent principles.
My ideas of medicine have become broader in terms of what I consider as treatment for different illnesses. I never would have considered meditation as a medicine, but I learned that some cultures do! It is a reflection of the Westernized American culture that I was born and raised in, but when I think of medicine I think of pharmaceuticals and prescriptions. Instead, I learned that many different things can be considered medicine, depending on your cultural background.
My ideas of medicine have become broader in terms of what I consider as treatment for different illnesses. I never would have considered meditation as a medicine, but I learned that some cultures do! It is a reflection of the Westernized American culture that I was born and raised in, but when I think of medicine I think of pharmaceuticals and prescriptions. Instead, I learned that many different things can be considered medicine, depending on your cultural background.
I also learned the concept of illness is not what I had previously thought it was. Illness before meant that you were showing symptoms of a disease or sickness, and you needed to seek treatment to get rid of them. I have now learned that illness can mean so much more than that. Illness can be seen as an imbalance in your body, lack of well-being, emotional discomfort, spirit possession, and so much more. It is amazing what different cultures and even different individuals from those cultures view as illness, which is something I never would have thought before. I hope to use this knowledge later on to understand why I am feeling “ill” and what it means to me as I experience it.
Photo Credit: The Afro News
Photo Credit: The Afro News
The single most memorable lesson to me in this course was during the experiential lessons. There was an article we read called “’I am not the kind of woman who complains of everything’: Illness stories of self and shame in women with chronic pain.” The shame that these women felt when experiencing their disease was incredible. I could relate to it, but also I felt pity for them. They were ashamed and embarrassed of a disease they could not help but have! “A common feature of many of the illness stories of the women are descriptions of their own strength (both physical, mental, and emotional) and a negative attitude to the talk of illness as ‘whining and complaining’.” (Werner) These women felt they had to remain strong and put up with the pain because it was too embarrassing to complain about it.
The value of medical anthropology is incredible. I think it has been forgotten in the medical field in our culture that the patients are humans, with lives and culture and beliefs. Our current health system does not account for our individual ethnicities and belief systems, and it is a “one size fits all” system. I think it is important that medical professionals learn about medical anthropology to help them better understand their patients and their illnesses so they can treat them more effectively. Medical anthropology is an attempt to uncover the cultural connections to illness, and also a system for helping understand our fellow human beings when discussing their illnesses.
If you would like to learn more about medical anthropology, there are many different books you can find and read. There is one in particular that caught my attention in my first medical anthropology class, and I think it's a great example of a medical anthropologist's work. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility by Annette Leibing and Lawrence Cohen is a fantastic book that outlines medical anthropology and Alzheimer's disease.
The value of medical anthropology is incredible. I think it has been forgotten in the medical field in our culture that the patients are humans, with lives and culture and beliefs. Our current health system does not account for our individual ethnicities and belief systems, and it is a “one size fits all” system. I think it is important that medical professionals learn about medical anthropology to help them better understand their patients and their illnesses so they can treat them more effectively. Medical anthropology is an attempt to uncover the cultural connections to illness, and also a system for helping understand our fellow human beings when discussing their illnesses.
If you would like to learn more about medical anthropology, there are many different books you can find and read. There is one in particular that caught my attention in my first medical anthropology class, and I think it's a great example of a medical anthropologist's work. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility by Annette Leibing and Lawrence Cohen is a fantastic book that outlines medical anthropology and Alzheimer's disease.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
Work Cited:
Amazon.com. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility Listing. Photo. Accessed August 12, 2013.
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-About-Dementia-Anthropology-Senility/dp/0813538033
Leibing, Annette and Lawrence Cohen. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility. Rutgers University Press.
February 15, 2006.
The Afro News. "Critical Illness". Photo. Accessed August 12, 2013. http://www.theafronews.ca/2011/01/28/5440/woman-with-headache/
Werner, Annette, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Kirsti Malterud. “’I am not the kind of woman who complains of everything’: Illness stories of self and
shame in women with chronic pain." Social Science and Medicine. 2004. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us13/files/2012/06/Werner-
Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome-in-Norway.pdf
Amazon.com. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility Listing. Photo. Accessed August 12, 2013.
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-About-Dementia-Anthropology-Senility/dp/0813538033
Leibing, Annette and Lawrence Cohen. Thinking About Dimentia: Culture, Loss, and the Anthropology of Senility. Rutgers University Press.
February 15, 2006.
The Afro News. "Critical Illness". Photo. Accessed August 12, 2013. http://www.theafronews.ca/2011/01/28/5440/woman-with-headache/
Werner, Annette, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Kirsti Malterud. “’I am not the kind of woman who complains of everything’: Illness stories of self and
shame in women with chronic pain." Social Science and Medicine. 2004. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us13/files/2012/06/Werner-
Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome-in-Norway.pdf