What Is Medical Anthropology?

Source: Medical Anthropology Newsletter, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Aug., 1981), pp. 7-8
Published by: American Anthropological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/647788
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 IS MEDICAL
WHAT ANTHROPOLOGY?
Contemporary medical anthropology is an outgrowth of
several lines of research and application in the health
sciences and anthropology which began to converge in the
immediate post-World War II period. When the technology
of Western medicine was introduced into the non-Western
cultures usually studied by anthropologists, health teams
turned to cultural anthropologists for advice on how to over-
come perceived cultural barriers to the planned technologi-
cal transfers. Studies of indigenous health beliefs and prac-
tices, nutritional patterns, reproductive beliefs and
behavior, the dynamics of sick role behavior and the legit-
imization of curing roles, all became critical to the develop-
ment of public health and clinical care delivery systems
designed to meet the needs of specific populations.
As cultural anthropologists developed expertise in advis-
ing on the design of health delivery systems for non-Western
peoples, it became evident that anthropological skills and
approaches could be applied to the delivery of health care in
modern, heterogeneous societies. Cultural anthropologists
thus began to join their colleagues in physical anthropology
who had long preceded them in medical school settings.
Medical school receptivity to cultural anthropology did
not derive solely from an interest in health care delivery
across cultures. Medical researchers were concerned increas-
ingly with diseases which no longer fit an earlier model of
disease causation which stressed simple exposure to a par-
ticular micro-organism. Factors implicated in the etiology
and prevention of heart disease, for example, such as diet,
exercise, smoking, and stress, were related to the lifestyle
and social interaction of the individual. These were research
domains more familiar to the social researcher than to the
medical researcher. It was recognized that by joining forces,
social and medical researchers could contribute to a better
understanding of disease etiology and prevention. Just as an-
thropologists looked upon other cultures and societies as
natural "social experiments" for the study of cultural and
social dynamics, medical researchers now recognized the
validity of looking at other societies as natural "socio-
biological laboratories."
Medicine's increasing sensitivity to social and cultural
variables also extends to problems in health care delivery.
The growth of consumer and self-help movements directed
towards changing some of the ways health care was being
delivered, and the advances of medical technology into
areas for which there were no cultural or social precedents,
have also contributed to this trend. All of these concerns
were given institutional recognition and a place in the cur-
riculum with the development of a Behavioral Sciences sec-
tion in the test conducted by the National Board of Medical
Examiners, required of most medical students in the United
States.
7
When anthropologists first became involved with medical
programs, they rarely questioned the efficacy or appropri-
ateness of the medical procedures being introduced. But
over time, anthropologists began to collaborate with
medical professionals in evaluating the suitability and im-
pact of various established procedures. Thus, for example,
basic and applied research has been carried out on the
justification for, and effects of, separating the mother from
her infant in newborn intensive care nurseries and in normal
full-term deliveries. Research on birth control and family
planning has been extended from how to get a given popula-
tion to adopt a particular birth control technique, to the
development of social or cultural specifications for the
design of new birth control techniques which would be suit-
able and acceptable to a given population.
Medical anthropologists concern themselves with the en-
tire domain of health and medicine throughout the life-
cycle. In the area of aging, for example, they are concerned
with how the aged are treated in various cultures; the
reasons for the differential status they are often accorded;
questions about the relationships among physical function-
ing of the aged and their roles and functions in different
societies; and with ways in which their health can be pro-
moted and their care facilitated in our own and other
societies. In the area of mental health, medical an-
thropologists are concerned with how various cultures define
"mental illness"; the extent to which a stigma is attached to
that label; the testing of various etiological hypotheses; the
nature of the curing process in our own and other cultures;
and how the treatment and social setting may help or hinder
readjustment or cure.
Medical anthropology has both applied and basic
research interests. The applied interests are self-evident in
the area of designing optimal care and public health pro-
grams, and measuring the impact of procedures and pro-
grams. The basic research interests overlap those of many
disciplines. How are biological processes mediated and
modified by the culture? What are the dynamics of
maintenance and change common to all curing systems?
How are people recruited as practitioners and patients in
curing systems, and how are roles learned, carried out and
changed? What is the relationship between health beliefs
and health behavior? How does the curing system relate to
other systems in a culture? What is the relationship between
the pattern of life and the pattern of disease?
Medical anthropology draws upon cultural and physical
anthropology as well as related social science disciplines.
Like many medical sociologists, for example, medical
anthropologists have come to study the social organization
of medicine, but they also have focused, more than the
sociologists, upon an ethnographic understanding of the
perceptions held and shared by those within it. Medical an-
thropologists (most of whom started as cultural an-
thropologists) also have learned to build biological variables
into their studies, along with more familiar cultural and
social variables. Like physical anthropologists, medical an-
thropologists are concerned with adaptation and biological-
cultural interactions, but the time frame is shorter than that
used by physical anthropologists, who are more concerned
with evolutionary processes.
The literature of medical anthropology is extensive and
varied. Medical anthropologists publish their research in
books, monographs and articles. The articles appear in
specialized medical journals as well as in several journals
specifically serving medical anthropology (e.g., Medical An-
thropology; Social Science and Medicine; and Culture,
Medicine and Psychiatry). In addition, there are a number
of textbooks and volumes of collected articles available for
teaching purposes, some directed to social science students
and others designed more to meet the needs of health profes-
sionals.
Medical anthropology is not a discipline separate from
anthropology. The pioneers in the field were anthropologists
who learned "on the job," usually by working in collabora-
tion with health professionals. Over the last 15 years,
however, a number of anthropology departments have
developed programs which allow students to specialize in
medical anthropology while receiving the PhD degree in an-
thropology. These programs emphasize, above all, a good
grounding in anthropology as a discipline. In addition, they
stress the learning of quantitative methods as well as the
more qualitative clinical skills typical of ethnographic
methods; the acquisition of basic biological knowledge if the
INFORMATION
EXCHANGE
Research on Massage
Mirka Knaster is researching the use of massage around
the world since ancient times, consulting publications in the
fields of medicine, history of medicine, ethnography,
medical anthropology, literature, physical therapy,
pregnancy and childbirth, religion, and art. She is in-
terested in all aspects of massage, but in particular: who car-
ries out massage, for what reasons, under what auspices,
after what kind of training; is that person a full-time or
part-time specialist, male or female, young or old, or is
massage a component of a more general practice; what is
massage used in conjunction with; what does its use reflect
about a society's concept of health and illness; to what ex-
tent is it used; how successful is its use; is its practice con-
fined to recognized practitioners or also employed in the
home among family members; do midwives or other birth
attendants include it in pre-natal, delivery, and post-
partum care; is it used for abortion; is it used to enhance
physical beauty, spiritual growth, general strength; how
prevalent is baby massage?
Preliminary research with written sources will be com-
plemented by direct observations, experiences (in massage),
and interviews, especially in Asia and the Pacific Basin. In-
formation on references, contacts, and illustrations will be
8
student does not have it; and supervised experience in the
medical subculture. The Medical Anthropology Newslet-
ter, published by The Society for Medical Anthropology
carries out a survey every two years of departments which of-
fer specialized training in the field. Other career training
paths taken by anthropologists entering medical anthropol-
ogy include the Master's Degree in Public Health, special-
ized postdoctoral fellowships, and the Master's Degree in
Business Administration (with a specialization in Health
Services Administration). In addition, a considerable
number of medical anthropologists received advanced train-
ing in anthropology after being trained and working as
nurses, nutritionists and other health care professionals.
Students and professionals interested in learning more
about this field are encouraged to join the Society for
Medical Anthropology. The Society was founded in 1968,
"To promote the study of anthropological aspects of health,
illness, health care, and related topics; to encourage com-
munication and utilization of the results obtained from such
studies; and to aid in the education of persons who are or
will be involved in carrying out these activities." The Society
publishes quarterly the Medical Anthropology Newsletter,
an up-to-date report on important meetings, publications,
new research projects, training programs, and other devel-
opments in the field. The Newsletter also carries book re-
views, newsworthy articles, editorials, and comments from
readers. Free copies of this statement and membership in-
formation may be obtained by writing to the Society at the
address below.
The Society for Medical Anthropology, 1703 New Hamp-
shire Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009
gratefully received, for the U.S. and abroad. Please address
to Mirka Knaster, 2033 Lone Oak, Napa, CA 94558, or c/o
Napa College, 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway, Napa, CA
94558.
PEOPLE
Norge W. Jerome has been named Director of the newly
developed Division of Community Nutrition in the Depart-
ment of Community Health of the School of Medicine, Uni-
versity of Kansas College of Health Sciences in Kansas City.
Dr. Jerome is a professor in the Department of Community
Health. She believes that this is the only School of Medicine
with a Community Nutrition Division and views the develop-
ment as an opportunity to coordinate and advance the bi-
disciplinary research, teaching and consultant/advisory ser-
vices of the Community Nutrition Laboratory which she
heads.
Corinne Shear Wood has been awarded a six-month grant
by the University of Waikato, New Zealand, for continua-
tion of her studies of health conditions among the Maori
people. Her book, Human Sickness and Health-A Bio-
cultural View (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1979), was
awarded the Fifteenth Annual Book Award by the Universi-
ty of California, Irvine, Friends of the Library.