ANTH 2038 - Anthropology of Health and Medicine

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2016

This course develops a cross-cultural understanding of health, healing, beliefs about the body, and theories of illness - cultural, social and bio-medical. It critically examines the way in which medical beliefs and practices are socially constructed. Specific topics covered will include: cultural understandings of the mind/body, illness as symbol and metaphor, healers and their roles, institutional responses to disease, and the interaction between different health systems. Through the lens of medical anthropology the course asks students to contemplate their own assumptions about health and illness, and how each of these are 'treated' in a range of social and cultural settings.

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Course Details

Course Code	ANTH 2038
Course	Anthropology of Health and Medicine
Coordinating Unit	Anthropology and Development Studies
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	At least 12 units of level 1 Arts courses
Incompatible	ANTH 2003 or ANTH 3003
Assessment	Workshop participation, presentation, essays

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Susan Hemer

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Introduce students to medical anthropology and to the anthropological study of health and illness
2. To develop an understanding of some key concepts and methods in medical anthropology
3. Engage students in contemporary debates that relate to health and healthcare
4. To introduce and develop students’ abilities to locate health and illness in historical, social and cultural contexts
5. To introduce the idea that biomedicine is a cultural phenomenon, and to critically analyse notions of health and medicine in our own society and our own lives
6. Develop students’ research and analytical skills on a topic of interest in the field of medical anthropology

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1 & 2
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	4 & 6
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	3
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	3 & 6
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	3 & 4
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	5

Learning Resources

Required Resources

There will be a reader available for purchase from the Image and Copy Centre for this course. This is an essential resource for this course.

Recommended Resources

Baer, H., Singer, M., & I Susser 2003. Medical Anthropology and the World System. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Brown, P.J., ed. 1998. Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Good, B. 1994. Medicine, Rationality, and Experience: An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Grbich, C., ed. 2004. Health in Australia: Sociological Concepts and Issues. 3rd ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. : Pearson Longman.
Hahn, R.A. 1995. Sickness and Healing: An Anthropological Perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Johnson, T.M. & C.F. Sargent (eds) 1990. Medical Anthropology: A Handbook of Theory and Method. New York: Greenwood Press.
Lupton, D. 1994. Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body in Western Societies. London, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Petersen, A.R. 1994. In a Critical Condition: Health and Power Relations in Australia. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Pool, R. 2005. Medical Anthropology. UK: Open University Press.
Petersen, A. & R. Bunton (eds) 1997. Foucault, Health and Medicine. London: Routledge.
Nichter, M. (ed.) 1992. Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Ethnomedicine. Montreux, Switzerland; Philadelphia: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers.
Samson, C. (ed.) 1999. Health Studies: A Critical and Cross-Cultural Reader. Oxford, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Strathern, A. & P.J. Stewart. 1999. Curing and Healing: Medical Anthropology in Global Perspective. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Young, A. 1982. The anthropologies of illness and sickness. Annual Review of Anthropology 11, 257-285.
Encyclopedia of medical anthropology : health and illness in the world’s cultures.

Online Learning

MyUni will be used in this course to communicate with students through Announcements, as well as to post recorded lectures and powerpoint slides. MyUni will also have the details for assignments and submission links.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops. Lectures aim to provide the theoretical and conceptual background of the topics at hand. Workshops will focus on key debates around these topics as well as cross-cultural variation. Assignments will allow students to focus on a number of issues of their own choice.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Lectures: 1 hour per week
Workshops: 2 hours per week
Weekly reading and preparation for workshops: 4 hours
Assignment preparation and writing average per week: 5 hours

Learning Activities Summary

Part 1: Illness
Week 1: Introduction to Medical Anthropology
Week 2: Defining Illness
Week 3: Understanding Illness
Week 4 Experiencing Illness
Week 5: Independent Learning week
Part 2: Healing and Medicine
Week 6: Symbolic Healing and placebo
Week 7: Independent Learning Week
Week 8: Social relationships of Healing
Week 9: Medicine, Culture and the body
Week 10: Medical Dominance
Week 11: Foucault, health and medicine
Week 12: The Social distribution of health and healing

Specific Course Requirements

Attendance at Lectures and Workshops is essential for success in this course. If more than 2 workshops are missed (without documentation such as a medical certificate) students will gain 0% for Workshop participation.

Failure to submit a piece of assessment (short answer assignment or major essay) will result in a Fail grade for this course. Failure to submit any written work will result in a FNS grade (Failure No Submission).

Small Group Discovery Experience

Small Group Discovery Experiences will occur throughout this course particularly in workshops where students discuss case studies from written material; workshop themes and ideas presented through documentaries; and through a visit to the Anatomy and/or Pathology museums.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Percentage worth:	Word count	Course learning outcome
Workshop participation	10%		1-6
Research Project (composed of:)
Short answer assignment	30%	1300-1400	1-6
Verbal/written presentation	15%	500 &/or 5 minutes	1-6
Major Essay	45%	2500	1-6

Assessment Related Requirements

Attendance at Lectures and Workshops is essential for success in this course. If more than 2 workshops are missed (without documentation such as a medical certificate) students will gain 0% for Workshop participation. If more workshops are missed then please negotiate with the tutor/course coordinator to make up for this.

Failure to submit a piece of assessment (short answer or major essay) will result in a Fail grade for this course. Failure to submit any written work will result in a FNS grade (Failure No Submission).

Assessment Detail

Workshop Participation: Workshops are the major learning context for this subject. Students are required to participate in one 2-hour workshop each week. Workshops require continual preparation by way of reading and thinking about the materials under discussion.

Research Project: Students choose an illness, disease or medical condition to focus their assignments on for the semester.
1400 word Short Answer assignment: This assignment asks students to answer a number of questions and construct an annotated bibliography about their chosen illness.
Verbal or written presentation: students choose to submit either a presesentation in class, a poster or a course blog relating their chosen illness to the themes of weeks of the course.
2500 word major essay: Students choose a question to research and answer linked to their chosen illness for the semester.

Submission

Submission of assignments will be done online through MyUni, except for verbal presentations or posters.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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