Hey guys! For my research of a subfield of medical anthropology, I decided to explore the subfield of Medical Anthropology. I researched on the website of the Society of Medical Anthropology. What is it you may ask? Medical anthropology takes from social, cultural, biological, and linguistic anthropology in order to better explain and understand the factors that influence health, how illness is distributed, prevention of sickness, treatment of sickness, healthing, therapy, and so much more fields in the medical system. This is fascinating to me because it draws from four huge branches of anthropology and combines them into small field to help with medical treatments and programs for so many. I may not be a biology or pre-med major, but I find medical anthropology fascinating because of all that it can do and those that it can help with the new discoveries that are constantly being made. Medical anthropologist draw connections between how the health of individuals, larger societies, and our environment are affected between us humans and other types of species across the globe. These medical anthropologist study issues such as: health ramifications of ecological “adaptation and maladaptation”, popular health culture and domestic health care practices, local interpretations of bodily processes, changing body projects and valued bodily attributes, perceptions of risk, vulnerability and responsibility for illness and health care, risk and protective dimensions of human behavior, cultural norms and social institutions, preventative health and harm reduction practices, and countless more.
The Society for Medical Anthropology also has many special interest groups such as : AARG: AIDS and Anthropology Research Group, ADTSG: Alcohol, Drug, and Tobacco Study Group, and AMHIG: Anthropology and Mental Health Interest Group that offer scholars with shared concerns, newsletters, and award competitions. You can also donate on their website to be apart and support this amazing group that discovers new ways to save lives. The Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA) was founded in 1967 and made part of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in 1971. This organization is for support of medical anthropology, which uses concepts from anthropology to produce new discoveries in the subfields of health, disease, illness, treatment, and care.
This study of medical anthropology contribute to the broader themes of anthropology in several ways. The two basic themes of anthropology are diversity and change which is what medical anthropology is all about. Anthropology was related to change the way we think and do things. It is for new discoveries of fields we have and how we can improve and change them. Medical anthropology is a field that is continuously searching for new treatments, illness prevention, and influential factors that affect humans and other species illnesses and overall health. Medical anthropology has helped diversify the medical field and how medicine is practiced for many years. So many new prevention and treatment plans have been made and successfully practiced because of medical anthropology. Overall, I believe medical anthropology is a really positive and fascinating field that deserves a lot more credit for everything it has done and continues to do.
Count Words: 504
Website:http://www.medanthro.net/about/
I found your subfield topic really interesting. I am a pre-med major so I found this topic especially fascinating because a lot the information you found will be involved in my future studies. I would like to read more about the AAA that you talked about. I think its amazing that they used anthropology methods to research current diseases and illnesses to try and find new discoveries and hopefully cures for many of the prominent issues that we deal with now. I think the idea that they study the differences in health of both individuals and larger societies is impacted by other humans and species worldwide. I think this is a really cool subfield of anthropology and I really enjoyed getting to read your blog post!
I thought your blog post was very interesting. I had never learned too much about medical anthropology so it was very nice to learn something new. After reading your post I know how important medical anthropology is. I always figured that studying the medical past and how it has changed along with its causes and effects would be beneficial for future advancements, but I never knew that this area of study was classified as medical anthropology. I am curious as to what possible medical discoveries can be directly traced back to medical anthropology research? I was also wondering what are some of the cultural norms and societal changes can be explained when examining them through the medical anthropological lens? Overall, I found your post very interesting along with the subfield you covered.