ANTH 2038 - Anthropology of Health and Medicine

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2021

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 2
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 I Undergraduate Study
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 Planner.

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

Essential readings will be accessible through Course Readings on MyUni.

Recommended Resources

Baer, H., Singer, M., & I Susser 2003. Medical Anthropology and the World System. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Helman, C. G. 2007 Culture, Health & Illness, 5th Edition. Hodder Arnold.

Lock, M. & Nguyen, V-K. 2010. The anthropology of biomedicine. Wiley-Blackwell.

Manderson, L., Cartwright, E. & Hardon, A. 2012 The Routledge Handbook of Medical Anthropology. Routledge.

Pool, R. 2005. Medical Anthropology. UK: Open University Press.

Singer, M. & Erikson, P. I. 2011 A Companion to Medical Anthropology. Blackwell Publishing.

Whyte, S. R., van der Geest, S. & Hardon, A. 2002 Social Lives of Medicines. Cambridge University Press.

Encyclopedia of medical anthropology : health and illness in the world’s cultures.

Online Learning

MyUni is crucial to this course. It will be used in this course for all main communications with students through Announcements, to access the Pre-recorded lectures, for accessing course resources like Readings. MyUni will also have the details for assignments, submission links and is the site for assignment feedback.
Some of the workshops for this course are designated as "online" at enrolment: these will be run through a combination of zoom workshops and discussion posts on MyUni.

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops. Lectures will be pre-recorded. These aim to provide the theoretical and conceptual background of the topics at hand.
Workshops will either be in face-to-face or online mode (depending on what students are enrolled in) and will focus on key debates and conceptual approaches to the study of health, illness and medicine cross-culturally.
Assignments will allow student 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.

WORKLOAD TOTAL HOURS
1 x 1-hour lecture (or equivalent) per week: 12 hours per semester
1 x 2-hour workshop (or equivalent) per week: 24 hours per semester
4 hours reading and workshop preparation per week: 48 hours per semester
5 hours assignment preparation per week: 60 hours per semester
1 hour research per week: 12 hours per semester
TOTAL WORKLOAD 156 hours per semester

Learning Activities Summary

Week 1	Introduction
Week 2	Key concepts in Medical Anthropology
Week 3	Models of health & illness
Week 4	Medicine, culture & the body
Week 5	Independent study
Week 6	Symbolic healing
Week 7	Performance & Social relationships of healing
Week 8	Experiencing Illness/phenomenology
Mid semester break
Week 9	Independent Study
Week 10	Medical dominance & medical pluralism
Week 11	Biopolitics & governing health
Week 12	Structural Violence/Social distribution of healthcare

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	Task type	Weighting
Course Participation	Formative and summative	10%
Assessed Critical Discussion Post	Formative and summative	25%
1500 word Research brief	Formative and summative	25%
2000 word Research Essay	Summative	40%

Assessment Related Requirements

Review of pre-recorded lectures and attendance at face-to-face or online workshops is essential for success in this course.

Assessment Detail

Course participation (10%): All workshop participants must have read all of the required readings for each week, and be prepared to discuss them. Participation means being actively involved in workshop discussions whether online or in face-to-face workshops and demonstrating a working knowledge of the readings. This forms the basis of the Participation mark.

The written tasks for this course will ask students to choose a particular medical condition (infectious disease, non-infectious disease, mental illness, culture bound sydrome or illness) as a focal point for all of their written work for the semester.

Assessed Critical Discussion Post (25%): Students are required to present material on a chosen week of the course as a Discussion Post within the MyUni site (equivalent of 800 words or 5 minutes presentation; including relevant pictures, video clips, and references).

1000 word Research brief (20%): write a 200 - 400 word overview of your chosen health condition. Find a range of biomedical, experiential and socio-cultural accounts of your chosen medical condition and provide an annotated bibiography of these.

2500 word Research essay (45%): write a fully referenced 2500 word essay based on essay questions provided and in reference to your chosen medical condition for the semester. This needs to clearly link to course themes and readings.

Submission

All submissions will be via the MyUni site for the course.

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 Access Adelaide.

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.
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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’s disciplinary procedures.

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