Coming into this course, I did not know much about medical anthropology. In fact, I didn't know anything at all. Throughout my life I have always been around medicine in some way, shape, or form. This could range from going to the doctor as a kid for a common cold or allergic reaction, or being around physicians that are family friends. Medicine is a huge part of how we maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially western medicine, which we have here in the United States. I think that medical anthropology and regular medicine go well together and should always be implimented in the medical field. As stated from the lectures, medical anthropoogy was one of the first aspects of medicine, in which people travled all around the world in attempt to reaearch the different forms of medicine. I think that all of the approaches of medical anthropology were helpful in their own respect. I found that overall, the biological apprach was the most usueful in terms of modern medicine in the United States because it uses a firm knowedge of the body and how it works. It will definitely be something that I keep in the back of my mind if i can make a carreer for myself in the medical field (hopefully).
What I found that was the most surprising was how much medical anthrolopogy has a presecne in medicine. I always thought growing up that it was just your doctors, your surgeons, and your nurses that were in charge of your overall health. I had no idea about these people traveling all around the world and researching medicine. What I found the most helpful was the weekly videos and how we could relate them to the material. The video that I found to be the best was one that I did a write up on which had to do with how wealthiness effects your overall health. I would definitey say the most memorible aspect of this course was reading about the shamans and clown doctors. I found it very interesting that we are grasping new ideas from old cultures and using them in common places of medicine. If I had to describe the value of medical anthropology to someone, I would tell them how important it is to understand that we all come from different places and diffrent cultures, but our bodies and general health all work the same. |