INVITATION TO THE COURSE

From birth to death, medical decisions pervade our lives. From macroeconomic controversies over private vs. managed care to microsociological decisions over whether to consult established or alternative medical practitioners—or whether to self-medicate—all of us make decisions, on a daily basis, over choices of medical treatment. Utopian images of a 'magic bullet' for curing all diseases, based on vaccines for smallpox and polio, have given way to the chronic reality of endemic global diseases, such as AIDS. Recent cases of bioterrorism have served to highlight the close links that may continue to exist between rural diseases of our preindustrial past, such as anthrax and West Nile Virus, and modern urban environments.

This course takes a historical and comparative approach to global medicine. The course especially emphasizes three topics: (a) controversies precipitated by new medical technologies; (b) continuities and dislocations between western and Asian medical traditions; (c) appropriate responses to chronic and global diseases, such as AIDS. We shall continually return, throughout this course, to consider the broad plurality of types of medicine throughout the world, as well as the specific historical and local contexts of new hospital and medical technologies.

Students will gain most from this course if they take regular notes on the required (and selected supplementary) readings, as we progress through the syllabus.

The course will be conducted as lecture-discussion, with brief semi-collaborative oral student reports, and longer written essay assignments.. The required readings should be completed before class; the supplementary readings introduce comparative and supplementary perspectives. Supplementary readings may also serve as material for student reports, and as additional background for essay assignments.

No prior course background in anthropology is presumed in this course. I do expect, however, that each individual will bring his or her own experiences to the course as a consumer, and perhaps even as a practitioner, of various types of medicine. Opportunites will be provided to draw from these experiences throughout the course, in both oral and written assignments. Students should achieve greater awareness of the broad diversity of types of medicine throughout the world in this course.

STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING & LEARNING

After a brief introductory overview, the course is organized into three sections. The first section provides a general overview of modern medicine worldwide, with special emphasis on new hospital and medical technologies. Section two focuses on a broad scale comparison between western (Greek) and Asian (Chinese) traditions of medicine. Section three focuses upon AIDS as an exemplar of the type of global disease that is becoming increasingly common in contemporary societies worldwide. The course will be historical and comparative in approach, constantly relating specific local types of medicine to broader social and cultural domains.

This course is constructed to foster progressive styles of learning. General classroom discussions will lead to small group collaborative student led discussions of the readings, which will in turn provide ideas and material for the individual essay writing assignments. In preparing their essays, students may either concentrate on the extensive list of supplementary, as well as required, readings already designated in the syllabus, or on additional material gleaned from their own research. Students are also encouraged to introduce an element of original ethnographic observations (interviews, participant-observation, etc.) into their writing assignments.

This course is lecture-discussion. There will also be several videos shown throughout the course.

COURSE DETAILS

Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 10:00 am. to 10:50 am., Alumni Bldg., Room 205

Class page: http://www.unc.edu/courses/2002fall/anth/170/001/

Gary Hausman, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department, UNC.

Office: Alumni Bldg., Room #409C

Mailing Address: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Anthropology, 301 Alumni Building, CB# 3115, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3115

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm; and by appointment.

Phone: 919-962-3280

E-mail: hausman@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.unc.edu/depts/anthro/faculty/fac_pages/hausmanG.html

Course Materials

There are four required books available for purchase at the university bookstore.

Shirley Lindenbaum and Margaret Lock (eds.), Knowledge, Power, and Practice: The Anthropology of Medicine and Everyday Life, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993

Margaret Lock, Allan Young, & Alberto Cambrosio (eds.), Living and Working with the New Medical Technologies: Intersections of Inquiry, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Shigehisa Kuriyama, The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine, New York: Zone Books, 2002

Paul Farmer, AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992

Additionally, a Course Pack is available for purchase at the university bookstore.

Resources

There are various types of reserve readings for this course.

Readings not otherwise available electronically have been placed on reserve at both Alumni Bldg. (third floor file cabinet) and at the Undergraduate Library Reserves. Many readings are available electronically, either through Electronic Journals Online, through JSTOR Online, or through netLibrary Online. Most undergraduate reserve readings are also accessible electronically through Course Reserves. Alumni Bldg. reserve readings should be signed in and signed out, on the sign out sheet.

For additional assistance with essay assignments, students are quite welcome to make use of the facilities of The Writing Center.

Student Responsibilities

All students are expected to abide by the Honor Code of the University (see Undergraduate Bulletin, 2002-2003, p. 323).

Late papers will not be accepted. Students may, at the discretion of the instructor, exercise the option of rewriting any of the three essay assignments for a higher grade.

Class participation: 15%
1st essay: 20%
2nd essay: 25%
3rd essay: 25%
Final examination: 15%

• Class Participation
  In addition to general participation in class discussion on a daily basis, each student is responsible for serving as one of several discussion leaders for any three non-consecutive weeks of the course. A 'week,' for this purpose, will be defined as three classes extending from Monday to Friday. Discussion leaders for a particular week should sign up in class by Friday of the preceding week. Discussion leaders are encouraged to confer with one another, either in person or through e-mail, about the respective week's readings. They should present a brief five to (at most) ten minutes summary of the required (and, perhaps some of the supplementary) readings at the start of each class. Each discussion leader should submit to me an individual summary (one to two pages at most) of the themes covered in the readings for that week, and their relation to the broader context of the course. Use these brief writing assignments as opportunities to experiment with possible topics for the short essay assignments. Be as specific as possible in setting forth themes that can be developed into paper topics. These brief summaries will not be graded, but will be evaluated with respect to the feasibility of developing them into one of the three esssay assignments for the course. Class participation will comprise 15% of the grade for the course.
• 1st Short Essay Assignment
  Guidelines for the first short essay will be posted on September 6; the essay will be due in class two weeks later, on September 20. The essay is to be 4-5 pages in length, and will comprise 20% of the grade for the course.
• 2nd Short Essay Assignment
  Guidelines for the second short essay will be posted on October 14; the essay will be due in class two weeks later, on October 28. The essay is to be 5-6 pages in length, and will comprise 25% of the grade for the course.
• 3rd Short Essay Assignment
  Guidelines for the third short essay will be posted on November 13; the essay will be due in class two weeks later, on November 27. The essay is to be 5-6 pages in length, and will comprise 25% of the grade for the course.
• Final Examination
  The final examination will be open book and open notes, and will take place at 8:00 am on December 13. It will comprise 15% of the grade for the course.

This page last updated November 28, 2002

Copyright ©2002 by Gary J. Hausman