Postpartum Medical Anthropology

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What Is Medical Anthropology?

Source: Medical Anthropology Newsletter, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Aug., 1981), pp. 7-8Published by: American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/647788

Accessed: 18/02/2009 01:54

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WHATS MEDICALNTHROPOLOGY?Contemporary medical anthropology is an outgrowth ofseveral lines of research and application in the healthsciences and anthropology which began to converge in theimmediate post-World War II period. When the technologyof Western medicine was introduced into the non-Westerncultures usually studied by anthropologists, health teamsturned 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 andbehavior, 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 systemsdesigned to meet the needs of specific populations.As cultural anthropologists developed expertise in advis-

ing on the design of health delivery systems for non-Westernpeoples, it became evident that anthropological skills andapproaches could be applied to the delivery of health care inmodern, heterogeneous societies. Cultural anthropologiststhus began to join their colleagues in physical anthropologywho had long preceded them in medical school settings.Medical school receptivity to cultural anthropology didnot derive solely from an interest in health care deliveryacross cultures. Medical researchers were concerned increas-ingly with diseases which no longer fit an earlier model ofdisease causation which stressed simple exposure to a par-ticular micro-organism. Factors implicated in the etiologyand prevention of heart disease, for example, such as diet,exercise, smoking, and stress, were related to the lifestyleand social interaction of the individual. These were researchdomains more familiar to the social researcher than to themedical researcher. It was recognized that by joining forces,social and medical researchers could contribute to a betterunderstanding of disease etiology and prevention. Just as an-thropologists looked upon other cultures and societies asnatural "social experiments" for the study of cultural andsocial dynamics, medical researchers now recognized thevalidity of looking at other societies as natural "socio-biological laboratories."Medicine's increasing sensitivity to social and culturalvariables also extends to problems in health care delivery.The growth of consumer and self-help movements directedtowards changing some of the ways health care was beingdelivered, and the advances of medical technology intoareas for which there were no cultural or social precedents,have also contributed to this trend. All of these concernswere 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 MedicalExaminers, required of most medical students in the UnitedStates.

When anthropologists first became involved with medicalprograms, they rarely questioned the efficacy or appropri-ateness of the medical procedures being introduced. Butover time, anthropologists began to collaborate withmedical professionals in evaluating the suitability and im-pact of various established procedures. Thus, for example,basic and applied research has been carried out on thejustification for, and effects of, separating the mother fromher infant in newborn intensive care nurseries and in normalfull-term deliveries. Research on birth control and familyplanning has been extended from how to get a given popula-tion to adopt a particular birth control technique, to thedevelopment of social or cultural specifications for thedesign 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 concernedwith how the aged are treated in various cultures; thereasons 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 differentsocieties; and with ways in which their health can be pro-moted and their care facilitated in our own and othersocieties. 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 tothat label; the testing of various etiological hypotheses; thenature of the curing process in our own and other cultures;and how the treatment and social setting may help or hinderreadjustment or cure.Medical anthropology has both applied and basicresearch interests. The applied interests are self-evident inthe 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 manydisciplines. How are biological processes mediated andmodified by the culture? What are the dynamics ofmaintenance and change common to all curing systems?How are people recruited as practitioners and patients incuring systems, and how are roles learned, carried out andchanged? What is the relationship between health beliefsand health behavior? How does the curing system relate toother systems in a culture? What is the relationship betweenthe pattern of life and the pattern of disease?Medical anthropology draws upon cultural and physicalanthropology as well as related social science disciplines.Like many medical sociologists, for example, medicalanthropologists have come to study the social organizationof medicine, but they also have focused, more than thesociologists, upon an ethnographic understanding of the

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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 variablesinto their studies, along with more familiar cultural andsocial variables. Like physical anthropologists, medical an-thropologists are concerned with adaptation and biological-cultural interactions, but the time frame is shorter than thatused by physical anthropologists, who are more concernedwith evolutionary processes.The literature of medical anthropology is extensive andvaried. Medical anthropologists publish their research inbooks, monographs and articles. The articles appear in

specialized medical journals as well as in several journalsspecifically serving medical anthropology (e.g., Medical An-thropology; Social Science and Medicine; and Culture,Medicine and Psychiatry). In addition, there are a numberof textbooks and volumes of collected articles available forteaching purposes, some directed to social science studentsand others designed more to meet the needs of health profes-sionals.

Medical anthropology is not a discipline separate fromanthropology. The pioneers in the field were anthropologistswho learned "on the job," usually by working in collabora-tion with health professionals. Over the last 15 years,however, a number of anthropology departments havedeveloped programs which allow students to specialize inmedical anthropology while receiving the PhD degree in an-thropology. These programs emphasize, above all, a goodgrounding in anthropology as a discipline. In addition, theystress the learning of quantitative methods as well as themore qualitative clinical skills typical of ethnographicmethods; the acquisition of basic biological knowledge if the







INFORMATIONXCHANGEResearchon Massage

Mirka Knaster is researching the use of massage aroundthe world since ancient times, consulting publications in thefields 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 orpart-time specialist, male or female, young or old, or ismassage a component of a more general practice; what ismassage used in conjunction with; what does its use reflectabout 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 thehome among family members; do midwives or other birthattendants include it in pre-natal, delivery, and post-partum care; is it used for abortion; is it used to enhancephysical beauty, spiritual growth, general strength; howprevalent 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





student does not have it; and supervised experience in themedical subculture. The Medical Anthropology Newslet-ter, published by The Society for Medical Anthropologycarries out a survey every two years of departments which of-fer specialized training in the field. Other career trainingpaths taken by anthropologists entering medical anthropol-ogy include the Master's Degree in Public Health, special-ized postdoctoral fellowships, and the Master's Degree inBusiness Administration (with a specialization in HealthServices Administration). In addition, a considerablenumber of medical anthropologists received advanced train-ing in anthropology after being trained and working anurses, nutritionists and other health care professionals.Students and professionals interested in learning moreabout this field are encouraged to join the Society forMedical 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 suchstudies; and to aid in the education of persons who are orwill be involved in carrying out these activities." The Societypublishes 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 reviews, newsworthy articles, editorials, and comments fromreaders. Free copies of this statement and membership in-formation may be obtained by writing to the Society at theaddress below.The Society for Medical Anthropology, 1703 New Hamp-shire Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009



gratefully received, for the U.S. and abroad. Please addresto Mirka Knaster, 2033 Lone Oak, Napa, CA 94558, or c/oNapa College, 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway, Napa, CA94558.

PEOPLENorge W. Jerome has been named Director of the newlydeveloped Division of Community Nutrition in the Depart-ment of Community Health of the School of Medicine, University of Kansas College of Health Sciences in Kansas CityDr. Jerome is a professor in the Department of CommunityHealth. She believes that this is the only School of Medicinewith a Community Nutrition Division and views the develop-ment as an opportunity to coordinate and advance the bi

disciplinary research, teaching and consultant/advisory services of the Community Nutrition Laboratory which sheheads.Corinne Shear Wood has been awarded a six-month granby the University of Waikato, New Zealand, for continua-tion of her studies of health conditions among the Maorpeople. Her book, Human Sickness and Health-A Biocultural View (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1979), waawarded the Fifteenth Annual Book Award by the University of California, Irvine, Friends of the Library.







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Postpartum Medical Anthropology

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