Module II – Ecology of Disease, Ethnomedicine, and the Social Construction of Illness

Videos to watch:

Module II Objectives

• Students will be able to define and describe the process of embodiment, especially in terms of how the human body and wellness may be impacted by society.
• Students will be able to describe and discuss the role of biomedicine in our understanding of the interaction of sociocultural factors and human health.
• Students will be able to describe and discuss the relationship between gender and health issues, including access to health care.

Topic 1 – Structural Inequalities of Health and Ecology of Disease

• Readings (Text)
  • Cultural and political ecologies of disease, Peter Brown (p.68-100)
  • Anne Fadiman, Chapters 7 (p.78-92)
• Lecture Notes (PPT)
  • Social Inequalities of Health and Disease Ecology (PPT)
• Readings (Supplemental Articles)
  • Leatherman, T. (2005). A space of vulnerability in poverty and health: Political ecology and the biocultural analysis. Ethos 33(1):46-70
  • McElory, A. (1996). Should medical ecology be political? Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 10(4):512-522.
  • Williams, D.R. and Jackson, P.B. (2005) Social sources of racial disparities in health. Health Affairs, 24(2), 325-334.
• Video
  • Film: Unnatural causes of diseases: In Sickness and Wealth

Topic 2 – Ethnomedicine

• Readings (Text)
  • Cultural approaches, Belief and ethnomedical systems, Peter Brown (p.101-121)
  • Anne Fadiman, Chapter 8 (p.93-105)
• Lecture Notes (PPT)
  • Ethnomedicine (PPT)
• Readings (Supplemental Articles)
  • Garro, L. (2000). Cultural meaning, explanations of illness, and the development of comparative frameworks. Ethnology, 39(4): 305-334.
  • Kleinman, et al.(1978). Culture, Illness and Care: Clinical lessons from Anthropologic and cross-cultural research. Annals of Internal Medicine 88:251-258.
  • Moerman, D. and Jonas, W. (2002) Deconstructing the placebo effect and finding the meaning response. Annals of Internal Medicine, 136(6): 471-476.
• Video
  • Film: World Apart     https://docuseek2-com.uhcl.idm.oclc.org/fn-wap1

Topic 3 – Social Construction of Illness

• Readings (Text)
  • The meaning and experience of Illness Brown (p.148-183)
  • Anne Fadiman chapter 10 (p.119-139)
• Lecture Notes (PPT)
  • The Social Production of Illness (PPT)
• Readings (Supplemental Articles)
  • Sapolsky, R. (1996) Why Stress is Bad for your Brain. Science, 273(5276): 749-750.
  • Dressler, W. (2004) Culture and the risk of disease. British Medical Bulletin, 69: 21-31.
  • Gravlee, C., Dressler W., and Bernard H.R. (2005). Skin color, social classification, and blood pressure in southeastern Puerto Rico. American Journal of Public Health, 95 (12): 2192-2197.
• Video
  • Film: Selling Sickness 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1PqLrBCW78