Table of Contents
Preface x
A Biocultural Approach to Medical Anthropology x
What Is Distinctive about This Text xi
What Is New in This Edition xii
Outline of the Book xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
Chapter 1 Introduction: A Biocultural Approach to Medical Anthropology 1
What Is Anthropology? 2
The Development of Medical Anthropology 4
What Is Medical Anthropology? 5
The Culture Concept 7
A Biocultural Perspective 9
Looking Ahead 13
Chapter 2 Anthropological Perspectives on Health and Disease 14
Definitions of Health 14
Disease 15
Illness 16
Sickness 19
The Locus of Health: The Body and Society 20
Biological Normalcy 23
Evolutionary Perspectives on Health 25
Adaptability 28
Behavioral Adaptability 28
Cultural Approaches in Medical Anthropology 31
Political Economy of Health 31
Ethnomedical Systems 32
Interpretive Approaches to Illness and Suffering 34
Applied Medical Anthropology 36
Epidemiology 37
Conclusion 38
Chapter 3 Healers and Healing 40
Culture and Healing Systems 41
Recruitment: How Healers Become Healers 49
Alternative and Complementary Medicines 53
Acupuncture 56
Chiropractic 58
Navajo Medicine 60
When Biomedicine Is Alternative Medicine 62
Alternative Biomedicines 64
Death as a Biocultural Concept 66
Placebo and Nocebo 71
Efficacy 73
Vaccination and Anti-Vaxx Movements 74
Conclusion 76
Chapter 4 Diet and Nutrition in Health and Disease 79
Human Nutrition 80
How Many Nutrients Do You Need? 84
Diet and Digestion 86
Nutrition Transitions in Human Prehistory and History 88
Evolutionary History: Hunter Gatherer and "Paleo" Diets 89
Agricultural Transition 93
Post-agricultural Dietary Adaptations and Challenges 97
Lactase Persistence/Non-persistence and Lactose Intolerance 97
Celiac Disease 99
Barry Popkin's Nutrition Transition: Globalization and Ultra-processing 101
Obesity 103
Diabetes 109
Future Nutrition Transitions and Sustainability Concerns 113
Conclusion 114
Chapter 5 Child Growth and Health 117
Life History Theory 118
Gestation: The First 38 Weeks of Growth and Development 119
Infancy 125
Childhood 134
Small but Healthy? 136
Is Bigger Better? 140
Sex, Gender, Growth, and Health 143
Environmental Toxins and Growth 145
Puberty and the Onset of Adolescence 147
Teenage Pregnancy in the United States 149
Conclusion 151
Chapter 6 Reproductive Health in Biocultural Context 154
Medicalizalion of Women's Health and Reproductive Health 155
Menstruation 156
Premenstrual Syndrome 161
Determinants of Fertility 163
Infertility 167
The Medicalization of Male Sexual Dysfunction 173
Female Genital Cutting 177
Pregnancy 181
Birth 185
Mothering 192
Bed-Sharing and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 196
Menopause 198
Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer Risk 201
Conclusion 203
Chapter 7 Aging 206
The Aging Body 209
Physiological Theories of Aging 215
Somatic Mutations 215
Free Radicals 215
Wear and Degeneration 216
Telomeres 217
Evolutionary Theories of Aging 219
The Aging Brain 221
Extending Life? Caloric Restriction and an Okinawa Case Study 226
Health, Illness, and the Cultural Construction of Aging 231
The Future of Aging 236
Chapter 8 Infectious Diseases: Pathogens, Hosts, and Evolutionary Interplay 240
Koch's Postulates 242
Taxonomy of Infectious Disease 243
Viruses 244
Bacteria 244
Protozoa 246
Fungi 247
Worms 247
Prions 248
How Pathogens Spread 248
Human Defenses against Pathogens 249
The Immune Response: A Brief Overview 251
Human-Pathogen Coevolution 257
Malaria: A Post-agricultural Disease 260
Evolutionary Changes in Pathogens 266
Variation in Pathogen Virulence 268
Allergies and Asthma: Relationship to Infectious Disease Exposure? 273
Conclusion 278
Chapter 9 Globalization, Poverty, and Infectious Disease 281
Emergent and Resurgent Diseases 282
Social Transformations, Colonialism, and Globalizing Infections 286
Smallpox 290
Colonialism and Disease in the Tropics 293
Colonialism's Health Legacy 296
Climate Change and Emerging/Resurging Diseases 298
Cholera 299
Dams and Infectious Disease 303
Tuberculosis: Emerging and Resurging 309
HIV/AIDS: A New(ish) Disease 313
Conclusion 318
Chapter 10 Stress, Social Inequality, and Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Health Disparities 321
Biology of the Stress Response 322
The Nervous System Stress Response 323
The Hormonal Stress Response 324
Why Is Stress Different for Humans? 326
Stress and Biological Normalcy 327
Stress and Health 328
Cardiovascular Disease 328
Immune Function 330
Child Growth 334
Inequality, Stress, and Health 338
Relative Status 342
Social Cohesion 343
Social Support 345
Race/Ethnicity, Racism/Discrimination, and Health in the United States 347
Conclusion 354
Chapter 11 Mental Health and Illness 357
The Medical Model in Biocultural Context 359
Culture-Bound Syndromes 363
Eating Disorders 368
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Culture 376
Mood Disorders 378
Depression 378
Bipolar Disorder and Creativity 382
Schizophrenia 386
Sleep 394
Conclusion 397
Epilogue The Relevance of Medical Anthropology 400
What Can I Do Next If I Am Interested in Medical Anthropology? 404
Graduate Programs in Anthropology 404
Public Health Programs 405
Medical Schools and Clinical Health Professions 405
Work in Governmental and Nongovernmental Health Agencies 405
Genetic Counseling 406
Glossary 407
References 416
Index 453
