Department of Global and Socio-Cultural Studies
ANTHROPOLOGY 3462
Medical Anthropology: Summer A, 2012
Topic Focus: Health Issues and Health Policy in the African World
Tuesday/Thursday - 2:00-4:45
Office Hours: To be arranged
Contact: tafarii@fiu.edu
Department: 305-919-5859
“There is nothing with which poverty coincides so absolutely as with the colour
black small or large populations, hot or cold climates, rich or poor in natural
resources; poverty cuts across all of these factors in order to find black people”
Walter Rodney, 1969
Course Description and Objectives:
A community’s health closely reflects the nature of its adaptation to the environment.
Environment is physical, social, cultural, economic and of course political. Man’s place
within this context will be examined cross culturally. The area focus is the African
Diaspora. This is for a couple of reasons. Most Anthropologists have an area focus, and
the African world has been my area of interest. Also, within the context of health in
South Florida, we have many populations migrating into the region who are African
descendants, or of mixed ancestry of African origin. Many of the examples will come
from the continent, Latin America, the Caribbean and various ethnicities present in our
communities in Florida. We will review health ideas and concepts, and the diversity of
adaptive strategies. From this broad geographic array of cultures we will assess the way
ecological concepts contribute to the theoretical development of medical anthropology,
and examine the intersection of clinical, epidemiological, and ethnographic approaches to
health problems. This holistic approach includes the political economy, and how the
process of globalization has contributed to the enormous health disparities world wide. A
structural analysis from both the bottom and the top will interrogate the issue of plural
systems of health, especially those involving the spirit world, religious ritual, spirit
possession therapy, and where, within this context ethnomedical systems, folk, popular
and alternative systems reside. The course will examine some of the difficulties
confronting the biomedical system currently, and the evolution of medical and
anthropological methodology over the past several decades.
The course provides an overview of the field of medical anthropology. The focus on
African and indigenous health takes us across many cultures. I have designed the course
to also spend time looking at ourselves in the state of Florida and the diversity of
populations we serve.
Three foci organize the course:
l. theoretical frameworks in medical anthropology
2. medical systems in Africa and the African Diaspora
3. the application of medical anthropology to global health issues.
The course is organized in seminar style. We are fortunate this term to have small
numbers and a seminar formation can happen. Active participation and contribution to
class discussion are expected of all students. Students are expected to read papers from
scholarly publications handed out in class, come to class prepared to discuss the papers,
achieve the capacity to write in this format and prepare proposed ideas for practical
interventions.
Field or Archival Research:
Each student is asked to examine some aspect of the biomedical system or an
ethnomedical system. This can be through attending lectures, alternative health events,
research, or through the collection of narratives about health sectors, the event of sickness
and other related topics of illness and disease. Students will write a paper on their data
collection or critical assessments of research. You may want to devise some specific
questions or observational indicators of reference before embarking on this research.
Please gain approval from me for your research topic. A more in depth procedure will be
handed out.
Outline of Topics:
COURSE SCHEDULE:
DATE TOPIC
Week
1
-
Introduction to Course; Discussion of Syllabus, Overview of
Theoretical Perspectives in Medical Anthropology:
The Biology of African Populations
WORK
DUE
May8-10
Wiley, A & J.S. Allen (2009) “A Biocultural Approach to Medical
Anthropology(Chapter 1) In: Medical Anthropology, A Biocultural Approach
-
Week
2
http://www.mic.ki.se/HistDis.html (explore this web site, History of Diseases)
Public Health and the Imperial Project, In : Colonialism and Health in the Tropics.
Caribbean Quarterly, Vol 49, No. 4 December 2003 (ed). Juanita De Barros, Sean
Stitwell.
Film Clip: Sicko.
Text: Chapter 1, Joralemon (2010); Chapter 3 McElroy (2009)
- Discussion on Human Subjects Research and Internal Review
Boards - A Brief History of Biomedicine and Public Health
Loustaunau, Marth O. and Elisa J. Sobo, 1997 “Biomedicine: History, Culture, and
Change”, In: The Cultural Context of Health, Illness and Medicine, pp107-143
May 1517
Film clips:
Malaria footage: Africa and West Palm Beach
- Discussion of Malaria: an ancient evolutionary relationship, - West
Africa and South Florida.
- The Hemoglobin Polymorphisms
Week
3
Brown, Peter, J.(1997); (CBCSF) Newsletter, Issue 4, October 2003; Madrigal,
Chapter 1+3. 4, from the Human Biology of Caribbean Populations
The Superiority of African Populations in the Atlantic Slave Trade
McElroy & Townsend (pp.96-118)
Exam 1
Film footage : Malaria clinical trails
Week
4
-
-
Evolutionary Medicine: Diabetes the Thrifty Genotype. Madrigal,,Ch.2 May 22HIV/AID: An Overview of shifting data.: Controversy’s and Issues 24
Approaches to Communicating Health Messages: Wiley, A. S. (2004)
Types of Interventions (RARE)
Some contentions in the HIV/AIDS literature
Prevention “ Get Smart &Get Swabbed” (2007)
Cow’s Milk consumption and health : An Evolutionary Perspective. Andrea S. Wiley, In :
Evolutionary Medicine and Health, New Perspectives. Ed., Trevathan, Smith and McKenna
- Chapter 3 & 4, Joralemon, p.28-54. Chapter 9, McElroy and Townsend, p
375-392. Different Theoretical Perspectives
Week - Alternative, Complementary, and Ancestral Medical Traditions alive and
5
well in South Florida and around the world
-Ethnomedicine: Forward to the past (Chevannes)
- Spiritual and Occult Traditions
-Lecture and Discussion – Witchcraft Allegations and Refugee Research
-Traditional Medicine in Africa and the Caribbean
- Healers in South Florida and the Caribbean
May 2931
Holiday
Jamaican Folk Medicine .( Chapter 4 and 5) The Caribbean Herbal, Spiritual and Occult
traditions : Ancestral Religions and health practices, (hand-out)
Chapter 6, Joralemon, p.66-84
Week
- Student Presentations of selected/approved topic Abstracts
- -Immunization campaigns in Africa and the US
June5-7
-Migration: and Tourism
6
- Suarez-Orozco, C., Rhodes, J. and Milburn, M. (2009)
Unraveling the Immigrant Paradox: Academic Engagement and disengagement
Among Recently Arrived Immigrant Youth. Youth & Society, 41Number 2,
December P151-185. Sage Publications151-185.
-Boxhill: HIV in Jamaica and the Bahamas
Week -Medical Apartheid and the concept of race in Public Health( H.
7
Washington,
June 1214
- Moore (2008) “Confronting the Crisis: Organ Transplantation in the African American
Community” WJBS Vol 32,No.2.
-Kunitz,S.J. (2000) Public Health Then and Now. Globalization , States, and the
Health of Indigenous Peoples. AJPH Oct, Vol. 90, No. 10
-Is Race a significant indicator of health?- Is race a reliable variable in Public Health?
Chapter 5, p 55-65, The Global Petri Dish (Joralemon, 2010)
- EXAM 2
Week
8
-
-
Programs Community Based Organization Prevention –
War and Trauma ( Urban combat and violence)
Addictions and Treatment
Ibogaine an alternative for treatment of addictions
Club Drugs and Altered States
Page, B.J. &M. Singer (2010) Comprehending Drug Use:
Ethnographic Research at the social margins. Rutgers University
Press.
June 1921
McElroy Chapter 7: The Dressler Research, p. 277
Film: Gredlock
Week - The Food Crisis: The Ecology and Economics of Nutrition and Disease
9
Film: Life and Debt –(the undermining of the Jamaican economy by
international organizations).
-Our Boys at the Bank (IMF policy makers negotiate)
Week
-Topics
10
Maternal Child Health: The Commodification of Children and
Reproduction
Urgent Health Policy
Youth Sexuality
Youth Culture and Health (TBA) Tafari and Marcelin (2009)
Disaster Public Health
Giroux, H.A. (2012) Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories and the
Culture of Cruelty.
McEroy, Chapter 4 & 5 , 132-215
EXAM: Final
This includes some suggested additional READING/
1. Course Introduction, Overview, and Organization, and resource access
This workshop teaches researchers and public health workers the importance of
publishing first in a widely available, primary source, peer-reviewed journal.
Loustaunau, Marth O. and Elisa J. Sobo, 1997 “Biomedicine: History, Culture, and
Change”, In: The Cultural Context of Health, Illness and Medicine, pp107-143


http://www.mic.ki.se/HistDis.html (explore this web site, History of Diseases)
Public Health and the Imperial Project, In : Colonialism and Health in the
Tropics. Caribbean Quarterly, Vol 49, No. 4 December 2003 ed. Juanita De
Barros, Sean Stitwell.
3. Malaria: an ancient evolutionary relationship
Brown, Peter, J.(1997) Culture and the Global Resurgence of Malaria. In: M.C Inkhorn,
and P. J. Brown (Ed.). The Anthropology of Infectious Disease. International Health
Perspectives, pp. 119-141. Gordon and Breach Publishers
Malaria in South Florida: The Community Blood Centers of South Florida (CBCSF)
Newsletter, Issue 4, October 2003
Film: Malaria Inoculation clinical trail in West Africa and Malaria in South Florida
West Palm Beach Department of Public Health; film clip from Youssou N’Dior, Dakar,
2005 benefit for Malaria by African musicians.
Madrigal, Chapter 1+ 4 The Hemoglobin Polymorphism, In: Madrigal, Lorena 2006
Human Biology of Afro-Caribbean Populations. University of South Florida. Optional:
Discussion paper (research option)
Malaria among the Military in the Iraq War, Porter, William D., “Imported Malaria and
Conflict: 50 Years of Experience in U.S. Military. Military Medicine, October 2006,
Number 10
4. Evolutionary Medicine
Cow’s Milk consumption and health : An Evolutionary Perspective. Andrea S. Wiley,
In : Evolutionary Medicine and Health, New Perspectives. Ed., Trevathan, Smith and
McKenna. (also) Wiley, A. S. (2004) Drink Milk for Fitness : The Cultural Politics of
Human Biological Variation and Milk Consumption in the U.S. American
Anthropologist, vol. 106, Issue No.3, pp 506-517.
Madrigal, (2006) Chapter 2, Obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes
in Afro-Caribbean populations: an evolutionary overview. Pp 34-67.
Gender differences in Herbal Practices Related to Blood Pressure: Some examples from
the Caribbean. Robert A. Halberstein. Journal of Caribbean History
HIV/AIDS (see notes at the end of the syllabus for many web site addresses)
Louise M. Bougault, 2003 ISBN 13:978-0-89089-125-4 Playing for Life: Performance
in Africa in the Age of AIDS. Carolina Academic Press.
David A. Yeboah 2006, Some practical ways to adresse thé problem of HIVAIDS in the
Caribbean. IDEAZ . An interdisciplinary social science and humanities journal creating
an alternative space for alternative expression. Vol. 5.
Culture and Pharmacology , Cecil G. Helman 2001 Culture , Health and Illness
Some contentions with HIV/AIDS:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6830231400057553023&q=aids&total=34585&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OUDAw2R5Pk DR. SEBI
5. Alternative and Complementary Medical approaches:
Dr. Pookrum Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrNSf06b9E&feature=related
Melanin
Film : Constant Gardener
Jamaican Folk Medicine .( Chapter 4 and 5) The Caribbean Herbal, Spiritual and
Occult traditions : Ancestral Religions and health practices,
Wedel, J. (2004) Santeria Healing University Press of Florida.
Schnoebelen,J. (2009) New Issues in Refugee Research. Research Paper No.
169. Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the
evidence. UNHCR. The UN Refugee Agency, Policy Development and
Evaluation Service.
Mensah, F.A. (2007) The Spiritual Basis of Health and Illness in Africa.
In. Toylin Falola and Mathew Heaton. Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in
Africa. Carolina Academic Press
Ogundale S. O. 2007 Aspects of Indigenous Medicine in South Western Nigeria.
Ethno-Med. 1 (2): 127-133.
Cano, J.H. and Volpato,G. (2004) Herbal mixtures in the traditional medicine of
Eastern Cuba. Journal of Ethno-Pharmacology. 90 293-316.
Ibogaine as an alternative for substance addiction
6.
Immunization campaigns in Africa and the US

Film: African Immunization Campaigns

Immunization Conference on the US Military

The Choice to Immunize in the US

Migration and Tourism
7. Medical Apartheid and the concept of race in Public Health and other policy
issues.

See Medical self defense and the Black Panther Party-An Interview with
Alondra Nelson:

Nelson, A (2012) Body and Soul, Duke University Press.

Medical Apartheid: Harriet Washington
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6830231400057553023&q=aids&total=34585&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=se
arch&plindex=3
also see: Deadly Monopolies, Democracy Now, Oct 31, 2011
(see also on reserve: Moore, W (2008) “Confronting the Crisis: Organ
Transplantation in the African American Community”, The Western Journal of
Black Stuies, Vol. 32, No. 2.
Morrison, R. S.,Wallenstein, S, Natale, D K., Senzel, R. S. and Huang, Lo-Li.
(2000). We Don’t Carry That. Failure of Pharmacies in Predominantly Non
White Neighborhoods to Stock Opioid Analgesies. The New England Journal of
Medicine, Vol. 342, April 6, No. 14 pp 1023-1026.
Brown, David, Hernandez, Agueda, et al, Jefferson Reaves, Sr. Health Center
Community Rapid Assessment Response and Evaluation : A community based
participatory research study on health disparities.
Kaplan,J.B. and Bennett,T. (2003) Use of Race and Ethnicity in Biomedical
Publication, JAMA; 289, 2709-2716
Kunitz,S.J. (2000) Public Health Then and Now. Globalization , States, and the
Health of Indigenous Peoples. AJPH Oct, Vol. 90, No. 10
8 Programs Community Based Organization Prevention
War and trauma ( Film: Cry Freedom)
Disaster Public Health
The Ethnographic Method: Utilizing Rapid Assessment and Response
Evaluation as a Methodology
Integrating the quantitative and the qualitative data.
Readings: Get Smart/Get Swabbed:
Bowles, K.E., Thomas, P. E. et al “HIV Risk Behavior and Acceptance of HIV Testing
Among Young African Americans Attending Spring Break. Paper to be presented to the
Prevention and AIDS Conference, Atlanata, G.A. 2009. .
9. The Food Crisis: The Ecology and Economics of Nutrition and Disease
10. Maternal Child Health: The Commodification of Children: (TBA)

Popular Culture and Health: (young people in the US)
Tobacco cessation, Cannabis legalization….and other psychotropic plants

Monitoring the Future data

+

Environmental Health Issues: see Wise, Steve M. An American Trilogy:
Death Slavery and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River.
Note: Summer is too short. We will collectively decide exactly what we
will cover and be accountable for this Summer A term. Some of the
topics I suggest may be used for your short research paper and
presentation. You need to begin reading immediately and thinking
about a topic.
Student Presentations:
Other Readings and Text the course integrates:
Boyd, S, C. (2003) From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law, and Policy.
Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina.
Bowser, B.P., Quimby, E. and Singer, M.(Ed) (2007) When Communities Assess Their
AIDS Epidemics: Results of Rapid Assessment of HIV/AIDS in Eleven U.S. Cities.
Lexingston Books, New York.
Schedule
Brodwin, Paul, 2008 Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The contest for healing power.
Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology (1996) Cambridge University Press.
Chamberlain, M. 2006 Family Love in the Diaspora offers an important new
perspective on African-Caribbean families. (Focus is the UK) Ian Randle Publisher
(purchase)
DiClemente, R. J., Richard A. Crosby, and Michelle C. Kegler 2002,
Emerging Theories in Health Promotion Practice and Research: Strategies for Improving
Public Health.
Giroux, H.A. (2012) Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories and the Culture of
Cruelty. Routledge, New York, NY.
Igoe, Jim and Kelsall, Tim 2005 Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Carolina Academic Press (reserve)
Kelly, Michael J. and Brendan Bain, 2005 Education and HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean
Klaits, F. ((2010) Death in a Church of Life: Moral Passion During Botswana’s Time of
AIDS. University of California Press. Berkeley, Ca.
Lowe, H, Payne-Jackson, A., Beckstrom-Sternberg, S.M, J. Duke. 2000, Jamaica’s
Ethnomedicine: Its Potential in the Healthcare System. University of the West Indies
Press.
Louise M. Bougault, 2003 ISBN 13:978-0-89089-125-4 Playing for Life: Performance
in Africa in the Age of AIDS. Carolina Academic Press.
Madrigal, Lorena 2006 Human Biology of Afro-Caribbean Populations. Cambridge
University Press. (purchase)
McElroy et al.(2009) Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective. McElroy, A, and
P. K. Townsend .
Nelson, A. (2011) Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against
Medical Discrimination. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, MN.
Owen Morgan ed. 2005 Health Issues in the Caribbean, Ian Randle Publishers (purchase)
Payne-Jackson, A. and M.C. Alleyne. (2004) Jamaican Folk Medicine: A Source of
Healing. University of the West Indies Press.
Paschal, Angelia M.(2006) Voices of African-American teen fathers: I’m doing what I
got to do”. Haworth Press
Rawlins, J. (2006) Midlife and Older Women: Family life, work and health in Jamaica.
June 2006. ISBN 976-640-1837
Singer, Merrill and Hans Baer (2007) Introducing Medical Anthropology, A Discipline
in Action. Alta Mira Press.
Some, Malidoma Patrice, 1994 Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in
the Life of an African Shaman, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, N.Y. The Healing Wisdom of Africa.
(see web site: http://www.malidoma.com).
Schnoebelen, Jill (2009) New Issues in Refugee Research, Research Paper No. 169.
Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence.
UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, Policy Development and Evaluation Service.
Turshen, M. and B. Holcomb 1993 Women’s Lives and Public Policy: The International
Experience. Greenwood Press. (reserve).
Toylin Falola, 2006 Endangered Bodies (purchase)
Toylin Falola and Mathew Heaton 2007 Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa.
Carolina Academic Press.
Wedel, Johan. 2004 Santeria Healing, University Press of Florida (out of print, many
more alternatives out there. I can put it on reserve).
Steve M. Wise An American Trilogy: Death Slavery and Dominion on the Banks of the
Cape Fear River.