Applying Anthropology: Medical Anthropology

One of the more recent exercises that I have asked my students to complete is to explore the options for applying anthropological method and theory into practice, specifically for themselves and within their proposed career fields.  This is often met with a series of moans and groans typical of any new undertaking by students, but the purpose of these exercises is to encourage students to engage with the anthropological material, which they believe to be insignificant, in new and creative ways.  As anthropology is broadly a field concerned with answering the question of what it means to be human finding ways that anthropology affects any discipline is actually not that difficult, and upon completion of the exercise many students realize that what they are learning is both valuable and useful.  In this vein of thinking today’s blog post is dedicated to one anthropological sub-subfield (as I like to call them) that has theoretical implications and real-world applications: medical anthropology.  This blog post will explore what medical anthropology is, how it can be used in applied settings, and some areas of already being undertaken as well as avenues of further inquiry.

Medical anthropology is the study of how individuals and societies define, identify, and treat illnesses, as well as describe states of healthiness.  You, the reader, probably take these notions for granted and are probably thinking to yourself that you (and those around you) understand health and sickness similarly, but the reality is that this is not the case.  Cultural groups around the world identify illness and the causes of those illnesses quite differently.  For example, the Azande of northern Africa attribute illness to being cursed by witches, while the Hmong (originally of southwest Asia, although many now live in the US) identify sickness as the result of an imbalance between the physical world we exist in and the spiritual world that exists around us.  These cultural groups may be vastly different from your own, but if you think within your own cultural group have you encountered people who appear healthy but are actually sick?  Or people who are sick but say that they are not?  This is because in our culture, as well as many cultures around the globe, there are series of factors that affect definitions of illness and health, and these factors are typically based in cultural, economic, political, and religious circumstances.  For example, when I was growing up it (in American culture) it was taboo to admit you had a mental illness.  Today, there are less taboos about mental illnesses in the US, but in other cultures mental illnesses remain unrecognized and therefore people within those cultures do not acknowledge the existence of mental illnesses or seek treatment for them.  Another example explains why a man I knew never reported his pain when he was dying of cancer.  He never reported it because he was a man (and in American culture, men “don’t feel pain”) and grew up in poverty, and therefore despite having health insurance and the means to see a doctor as an adult he felt that he could not afford to take time off work to see a doctor or seek treatment.  Therefore, he opted to ignore the pain and ultimately died because he never believed he was sick.  These are all aspects of health and wellness that medical anthropologists study.

As you might be beginning to realize there are many applications for medical anthropological research.  Medical anthropologists can be employed in a variety of fields given the scopes of their research and lines of inquiry.  Many hospitals have opted to hire medical anthropologists to work with patients in understanding their illnesses and how to seek treatment.  Social workers can utilize medical anthropological knowledge to understand how identity (e.g. gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.) affect their clients’ ability and/or willingness to seek and acquire help.  Nurses and doctors use medical anthropological knowledge daily in diagnosing and treating patients (even if they do not realize it, although many nursing and medical programs are actually incorporating medical anthropological coursework into the curriculum).  Psychologists also use medical anthropological knowledge to discern meaning from the words patients use or do not use when describing how they are feeling so as to better assist them with treatment.  Medical anthropologists are also used quite regularly to inform public policies at the government levels as their research can be used to promote or inhibit the creation or reformation of laws that are either medically related or have little to do with medicine.

This is the case of the research done by Angela Garcia, whose longitudinal studies among impoverished families in the US & Mexico seeks to understand the political, economic, and psychological decisions that go into identifying whether or not an individual is sick.  Her research has been used to encourage reforms to drug laws, particularly regarding their effects on impoverished populations (such as those she studies).  Another medical anthropologist, Lochlann Jain, researches how stories about injuries are told and retold, and how that affects the medico-legal community and patients.  As these reports of injuries affect doctor’s decisions in treating patients, insurance companies’ decision in covering claims, innovations in new medical practices and treatment options, and ultimately the patients Jain’s research is crucial in assisting people, particularly the injured, in getting better.  But not all medical anthropologists conduct research with such far reaching effects.  Many actually work within professional or governmental organizations, such as Ria and Theron Hunthammer.  Their work in the private and governmental sectors of public health have actually initiated changes within their communities that have benefited people directly.

Ultimately, the field of anthropology is a dynamic one that has a great deal of utility across various areas, and medical anthropology is one that demonstrates that as it touches people directly and indirectly through reforming political actions and changing the way doctors and nurses treat patients.  This area of anthropology is also a viable one for individuals interested in pursuing a medical career without pursuing traditional routes, such as nursing or medicine, which may be inaccessible for various reasons.  In conclusion the next time you or someone you know thinks or says that anthropology is worthless remember this and tell them how wrong they actually are.  :)

References

Department of Anthropology. (2019). Medical Anthropology. Retrieved from Northwestern University: https://www.anthropology.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/career-paths/medical.html

Littlewood, R. (2019). Medical Anthropology. Retrieved from Discover Anthropology: https://www.discoveranthropology.org.uk/about-anthropology/specialist-areas/medical-anthropology.html

No Author. (2017). What is Medical Anthropology? Retrieved from Society for Medical Anthropology: http://www.medanthro.net/about/about-medical-anthropology/

No Author. (No Date). Medical Anthropology . Retrieved from Standford Department of Anthropology: https://anthropology.stanford.edu/research-projects/medical-anthropology