ANTH225: Medical Anthropology

Class Time:  Monday & Wednesday 5:00–6:10PM

Instructor: Nadia Augustyniak                                                

Email: [email protected]      

Office Hours: TBA

Download the full syllabus here.

Course Description

Medical anthropology examines the ways in which experiences of health and illness as well as medical knowledge and practice are shaped not only by culture but also by social, political and economic realities. This course will introduce you to the history and contemporary significance of this field as well as its central concepts and theoretical debates. Setting the foundation for the rest of our discussions, the first part of the syllabus introduces the three main theoretical approaches which have defined the subfield and the productive tensions among them. Next, we will consider how biology, the body and culture are entwined and what this means for our understanding of disease, health, genetics and medical practice. This will allow us to explore the concept of local biologies, the complexities of medical pluralism and the implications of medical hegemony. The last concept segues into an exploration of medical systems and epistemologies beyond contemporary Western biomedicine to consider key questions about the nature of medical knowledge, its purported universality and the forms of political power, imperial domination and historical struggles with which it is entangled.

Finally, we will shift our focus to social inequality and its manifestation in the wide health disparities that are evident on global and local scales. Drawing on critical medical anthropology, we will examine the social, political and economic forces that structure and produce suffering such as chronic illness, premature birth and maternal mortality, and disproportionate impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. We will examine how racism, class and gender inequality contribute to unequal access to healthcare; explore the concepts of structural violence and medicalization; and critically assess global health initiatives such as the WHO’s effort to expand psychiatric services in low and middle income countries. We will explore these topics by drawing on case studies from India, the United States, and Brazil, among others.

Close, attentive reading is crucial to this course as are writing and class discussion. The course is designed to help you recognize and critically examine the theoretical approaches, methodological choices, and key arguments that these texts reflect. With that, echoing the phenomenological approaches we will be studying, this class also encourages you to draw on your own lived experience and knowledge as you analyze and critique the case studies, concepts and frameworks we will be discussing.

Course Objectives:

• You will gain an understanding of how medical anthropology emerged as a field and the three main theoretical approaches that characterize the subdiscipline.
• You will learn the central debates and concepts that have shaped the field of medical anthropology and their theoretical significance.
• You will be able to analyze scholarly texts in medical anthropology and critically discuss the relevant theoretical concepts and approaches.
• You will be able to relate the concepts from the texts we read to everyday, contemporary issues.

Required Texts:

This course does not require you to purchase any materials. Open Access readings as well as those available through the QC Library will be posted on this website as links. The remaining texts will be made available to you via a shared class repository.

The syllabus includes many recommended texts—these are a valuable resource for your research papers as well as future research you might end up doing if you pursue graduate school.

CUNY Academic Commons Site and Blackboard

This course will utilize a CUNY Commons course website as well as Blackboard. The website houses the syllabus, readings, and online discussions. You will use Blackboard to submit assignments and we will rely on it for communication (including changes to the schedule or reading list). It is your responsibility to make sure you can access both the Commons course website and Blackboard.

Course Requirements & Evaluation

The success of this class depends on student input, so please come to class prepared. This means that you have read as much of the assigned material as possible and jotted down at least a few notes and questions.

Your final grade will be based on the following components:

10% – Reading Notes (10)

20% – Memos (5) 

20% – Discussion Lead

20% – Midterm Exam

30% – Final Paper

Class Policies

Attendance & Make-up Policy: You are expected to attend every class. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to obtain notes from the missed lecture from one of your fellow students. Once you have done that, I encourage you to come to office hours and ask any questions you may have about the material.

Contacting the Instructor: The best way to contact me is via my QC email. If you have not heard from me within three working days, please contact me again. 

Rules of Conduct: The classroom and online forums are an open space where students should feel free to express their thoughts, explore new ideas, and disagree and debate with one another. This requires true mutual respect. Be kind to each other. When disagreeing, address the merits of the perspective or idea, not the character of a person who expressed it. And remember that in the context of debate or discussion, it is not enough to have an opinion—you must support your views with evidence.

Academic Integrity: Plagiarism and cheating on exams will result in an F for the given assignment or exam and possibly further disciplinary action in accordance with the Queens College Academic Integrity Policy. Plagiarism includes copying verbatim or paraphrasing any previously published work and failing to cite it. This includes any published material: books and articles as well as online resources, blogs, Wikipedia entries, film reviews, interviews, and any other published text whether it has an author or not. If in doubt, CITE! If you don’t know how to cite or are unsure how to handle the sources you have found, please email or come talk to me.