The Anthropology of Health and Healing

by Mari Womack

Overview

The Anthropology of Health and Healing provides the first holistic approach to the study of medical anthropology. Over the past two decades, medical anthropology has been the most rapidly growing subfield in anthropology, and a number of medial anthropology texts have been published, focusing primarily on public policy and health care delivery systems. Yet while Anthropologists have researched topics related to medical anthropology for over 100 years, here Womack thoroughly surveys this richly diverse field and provides an integrated approach that links together the biological, psychological, social, communicative, epidemiological, philosophical, historical, and developmental factors that shape health and healing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759110441
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	12/16/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	367
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mari Womack is a research scholar at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women and adjunct professor of anthropology at El Camino College.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface: A Tribute to My Teachers Chapter 2 Introduction: The Anthropology of Health and Healing Part 3 Part I. The Psychobiology of Health and Healing Chapter 4 Chapter 1. Models of the Body, the Self, and the Human Experience Chapter 5 Chapter 2. Constructing Gender: The Body in Social Context Chapter 6 Chapter 3. The Biology of Psychology and the Psychology of Biology Chapter 7 Chapter 4. Metaphor, Labeling Theory, and the Placebo Effect Part 8 Part II. Maintaining Health and Healing the Whole Person Chapter 9 Chapter 5. The Human Life Cycle: Coming of Age Chapter 10 Chapter 6. The Human Life Cycle: The Reproductive Years Chapter 11 Chapter 7. The Human Life Cycle: Growing Old and Growing Good Chapter 12 Chapter 8. Lifestyle and Health Part 13 Part III. Models of Diagnosis and Treatment Chapter 14 Chapter 9. Biomedicine and the Scientific Approach Chapter 15 Chapter 10. Restoring the Balance: Asian Models of Health and Healing Chapter 16 Chapter 11. Calling on the Spirits: Shamans, Sorcerers, and Mediums Chapter 17 Chapter 12. The Emerging Field of Integrative Medicine Part 18 Part IV. Contemporary Issues in Health and Healing Chapter 19 Chapter 13. The Social Context of Epidemics Chapter 20 Chapter 14. Medicines, Herbs, and Dietary Supplements Chapter 21 Chapter 15. Public Policy and Health-Care Delivery Systems Chapter 22 Notes Chapter 23 Glossary Chapter 24 References Chapter 25 Index

Editorial Reviews

The Anthropology of Health and Healing beautifully - and accessibly - draws upon new knowledge from such wide-ranging fields as biology, psychology, epidemiology, public health, health services research and human development, along with core insights from anthropology itself, to provide a comprehensive overview of how nature and nurture interact in diverse settings to shape individuals' own illness experiences, along with global patterns of health and disease. The book achieves rare balance in its attention not simply to what makes us sick but to what keeps us healthy, as well.

Carole H. Browner

The Anthropology of Health and Healing signals a shift from earlier conceptions of medical anthropology to a more comprehensive approach to illness and health. Writing with ease about allele frequency, cultural relativism, or the message of the Vedas, Mari Womack is a wise companion for this dazzling historical journey through the human and biological sciences

Shirley Lindenbaum