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ANTH 309 Test 1
Terms and Concepts
48
Anthropology
Undergraduate 3
03/02/2009

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Term
Anthropology:
Definition
The study of human beings.
Term
Four fields of American anthropology:
Definition
cultural, archaeological, linguistics, physical
Term
Culture:
Definition
The beliefs and practices of a particular group.
Term
Culture is un_____.
Definition
unconscious. We don't think about it, we live it.
Term
Culture can also be described as "what everyone..."
Definition
what everyone like us necessarily knows.
Term
Globalization:
Definition
expanding worldwide flows of material objects and symbols.
Term
Sapir-Whorf Thesis:
Definition
people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language - your language determines what choice of categories, descriptions you have available to express your perceptions.
Term
Values:
Definition
Shared ideas about what is "good".
Term
Ethnocentrism:
Definition
Judging another culture by the standards of one's own.
Term
Cultural relativism:
Definition
Evaluating a culture by its own standards.
Term
Medical anthropology:
Definition
Concerned with social/cultural aspects of health, disease, and illness.
Term
Three approaches in medial anthropology:
Definition
ecological, interpretive, critial
Term
Ecological medical anthropology:
Definition
Concerned with human adaptation to environments for survival; data-driven, acultural.
Term
Interpretive medial anthropology:
Definition
Looks for the 'deeper meaning' and significance a person gives to an illness experience.
Term
Critical medical anthropology:
Definition
Concerned with the 'why' of medical issues, including political/economical situation, the 'bigger picture'.
Term
Medicalization:
Definition
The process by which previously non-medical experiences and more of everyday life has come under the supervision of medicine.
Term
Dark side of medicalization:
Definition
- depoliticises behaviour

- gives 'experts' too much power

- dislocates responsibility; it's not the person's fault, it's a medical condition.

- no place for discussion of values and ethics
Term
Reification:
Definition
Treating something abstract as if existed as a real, tangible thing.
Term
Why has medicalization increased?
Definition
- limited influence of religion; bad behavior must now be given medical labels.

- health is considered the center of a moral life.

- faith in science, rationality
Term
'The Spirit Catches You' has become...
Definition
the canonical text for cultural competence
Term
'Cultural competence' might not be as important as...
Definition
understanding the basic concept of the 'other'.
Term
Drug:
Definition
Substance that affects one or more bodily functions.
Term
Psychoactive:
Definition
Affecting mental state
Term
Addiction:
Definition
Compulsive use, habit, sometimes in absence of physical dependence.
Term
The Total Drug Effect
Definition
More influences the therapeutic effects of drugs than just the drug's pharmaceutical properties.
Term
What influences the 'total drug effect'?
Definition
- appearance of the medicine

- patient's culture, education

- doctor's appearance, professional status

- reactions of others to same drug
Term
Healing culture of the U.S.:
Definition
Drug intensive; people like to turn to pills to solve health problems.
Term
Drugs and medicine in the 1950s and 1960s:
Definition
- no stigma

- it's medicine

- great optimism about modern science
Term
When a person first tries an anti-depressant:
Definition
40% won't respond to first medication, and must try another.
Term
'The concept of normal is...
Definition
A variation on the concept of good. It is that which society has approved.'
Term
DSM:
Definition
Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Term
Disorder:
Definition
A pathological condition of the body or mind.
Term
Psychologization:
Definition
Physiological distress is felt through psychological symptoms
Term
Somatization:
Definition
Physiological distress is felt through physical symptoms.
Term
Neuroasthenia:
Definition
an 'American disease' caused by distress of fast-paced life. Exhaustion of nervous system. Now supplanted by depressive/anxiety disorders.
Term
Neuroplasticity:
Definition
Changes in brain architecture due to a person's experiences.
Term
Stressful environments lead to a reduction...
Definition
in neurological growth. (Gould)
Term
Cortisol:
Definition
Stress hormone. Long-term production is harmful to the brain.
Term
Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on the movement of:
Definition
Chi energy.
Term
Approach to diagnoses in traditional Chinese medicine:
Definition
Every patient is unique and will be given a unique diagnosis.
Term
Religion:
Definition
System of beliefs and practices directed towards the ultimate concerns of a group.
Term
What good does religion do?
Definition
- provides connection with the sacred

- helps create/maintain social cohesion

- maintains central values of a culture

- controls anxiety about life experience
Term
Symbols serve to:
Definition
- condense information

- transmit knowledge

- inspire morality

- transmit emotion
Term
Ritual:
Definition
An activity with a high degree of formality with no utilitarian purpose.
Term
Gennep's Rites de Passage (1909):
Definition
1.) preliminary (separation)

2.) liminaire (between, ambiguity, transitional period)

3.) postliminaire (new status for the individual, incorporation into a new section of society)
Term
Symbolic healing:
Definition
- healer has a specific worldview and an explanation of the patient's problem

- patient understands her problem through healer's worldview

- patient adopts healer's worldview, becomes attached to healer's symbols
Term
For placebos and ritual to work,...
Definition
the patient must believe.
Term
Ghanian theology:
Definition
- priests/priestesses are mediators between the human and the divine

- healers use medicinal herbs

- medicine is holistic; treats both physical and spiritual ailments.
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