MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Social Anthropology Instructor: Deniz Yükseker Spring 2014 Koç University

The field of medical anthropoloy An interdisciplinary field that studies social, cultural and biological aspects of health, illness and healing The processes of naming an illness, describing it to others, determining its cause, and acting to remedy it are determined by cultural norms and expectations. “A health care system”: a system of symbolic meanings pertaining to health, illness and healing that is anchored in particular arrangements of social institutions and patterns of interpersonal interactions”

Health care systems A health care system is complex Different choices, changing explanations, new healing methods, social criticism of individuals’ choices, ways to reject failed methods

Disease and illness Medical anthropologists distinguish between disease and illness Disease: clinical or biological aspects of a medical condition Illness: personal experience of a medical condition in terms of suffering

Two case studies Leprosy on the Ganges Global organ trade and organ transplantations

Case study 1 People with leprosy in the holy city of Banaras Differentiation between Contagiousness of the disease and Contagiousness of the social stigma

People with leprosy are discriminated against Hiding and denial of the disease Progression of the disease Somatic symptoms of the disease  pain Social suffering Social stigma intensifies physical stigma

Case study 2 Global organ trade and organ transplantation (This reading is excluded from the final exam, but I am keeping the slides for your information)

Global organ trade Transformation of the body under globalization Human organs as commodities Global spread of organ transplant technology creates a “scarcity” in human organs

Organ trade as a case of globalization Flows of commodities (organs) Flows of people (donors and recepients) Flows of technology (organ transplantation technology) Globalization: intensification of global flows of commodities, people, money, ideeas

As a result of the global trade in organs, meanings shift: What is the meaning of death? What does embodiment mean? To whom does a dead body belong? What does scarcity of organs mean?

Is organ trade against social justice and equity? Should organ trade be banned or regulated? What about transplantation of limbs?