Exploring Medical Anthropology

Medical anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that studies human health and disease, health care systems, and bio-cultural adaptation. It examines how health and illness are shaped, experienced and understood in the context of global, historical and political forces. It addresses afflictions which are of increasing importance but are seldom sufficiently understood by biomedicine alone. The fundamental areas of research within this field are cultures of medicine, the social nature of emergent biotechnology, the economics of bodily injury, and psychic expressions of disorder. It also investigates areas such as the impact of the formation of social networks on health, the lived consequences of disability and inequality, and the dynamic concepts of human biological difference and race. This field focuses on how health problems arise from larger social issues, which must also be addressed. Medical anthropology strives to dissolve the stark divide between life sciences and social sciences. This book contains some path-breaking studies in the field of medical anthropology. Researchers, medical professionals, and students associated with this field will be greatly assisted by it.