ANTH 8 - Medical Anthropology: Methods and Practice

    Recent Professors
    Mayra Cerda Aguilar
    Recent Semesters
    Fall 2026
    Class Size
    Not published
    Credits
    4
    Fall 2026 Sections
    View Fall 2026 sections of ANTH 8
    Transfers To
    UC and CSUCal-GETC Area 4 · IGETC Area 4 · CSU GE Area D
    Description
    Medical anthropology seeks to understand how health, illness and healing practices are culturally constructed and mediated. Students will investigate global, cross-cultural and local issues related to health, sickness, healing, epidemiology, aging and dying from an applied and bio-cultural perspective, using anthropological theory and ethnographic fieldwork methods. Students will be exposed to diverse cultural interpretations of health, sickness and healing, the importance of viewing medical systems as social systems, understanding the socio-cultural context of medical decision making and therapy management, the principles of cultural competency, and the recurrent and ongoing problems of socioeconomic inequality and ecological disruptions that have an impact upon the differential distribution and treatment of human diseases.