Key Perspectives in Medical Anthropology

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

505-402 Culture, Health and Illness

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject examines a range of classic and current theoretical debates within the discipline of anthropology: on rationality and cultural difference; objectivity and reflexivity; modes of anthropological representation and the politics of applied anthropological research.

Topics and themes include the cross- cultural study of illness causation; emotion; ideas of psychopathology in different societies and psychological anthropology; ideas of embodiment and the relationship between culture, linguistic communication, expressive behaviour and health. Where possible, the texts selected for reading include examples of the application of Medical Anthropology so that the theoretical approaches are clarified through practical instances.

This subject explores different emotions and bodily states as they are perceived across cultures and at the ways these are represented within the discipline of Anthropology. Theoretical analyses of debates about universality, cultural relativism, and human rights in the context of health, scholarly objectivity and political advocacy are sometimes explicit in the readings, but students are expected to read critically so that they develop analytical and interpretative skills. This subject is conducted as a seminar series in which students are required to read and discuss the set texts for each week. Each student will be expected to choose a discussion topic for a specific class during the first week's class and take responsibility for leading the discussion on the given day.

• have a critical understanding of recent developments in theories of Medical Anthropology
• have developed the basic capacity to formulate comparative explanations of illness causation, drawing on a variety of explanatory models of cultural, social and behavioural determinants of health.
• be able to contextualise socio-cultural studies and present them in terms of policy and practice in the fields of International Development.

Written work, approximately 4,000 words comprising one class paper (1000 words - 25%) and an essay (3000 words - 75%)

A set of readings will be available for purchase.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.