Reflections about ANP 204
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
Truthfully, before taking this class I did not see an intersection between medicine and culture. I also had a westernized view of medicine and failed to see how different countries, cultures, races, and populations treated the same disease. I, unfortunately, had the view point that if someone was non-compliant with their medical care, that they were just very stubborn and utterly stupendous. After the course, my view drastically changed. After reviewing the multiple articles, videos, blogs, and other media type resources, I now see that culture kind of dominates how a person will receive health care, as well as, how compliant they are. I really enjoyed that instead of just seeing people are uneducated, I was able to see how their ideas differed from mine due to differences in culture, education, economics, social status, and ideologies. I chose the image below as a symbolic representation of the idea that each culture has a different view point on health care. Although culture may not be distinctively defined by the country, the visual of the flags shows potentially how many different ideas there could be to treating and diagnosing a disease or illness.
Truthfully, before taking this class I did not see an intersection between medicine and culture. I also had a westernized view of medicine and failed to see how different countries, cultures, races, and populations treated the same disease. I, unfortunately, had the view point that if someone was non-compliant with their medical care, that they were just very stubborn and utterly stupendous. After the course, my view drastically changed. After reviewing the multiple articles, videos, blogs, and other media type resources, I now see that culture kind of dominates how a person will receive health care, as well as, how compliant they are. I really enjoyed that instead of just seeing people are uneducated, I was able to see how their ideas differed from mine due to differences in culture, education, economics, social status, and ideologies. I chose the image below as a symbolic representation of the idea that each culture has a different view point on health care. Although culture may not be distinctively defined by the country, the visual of the flags shows potentially how many different ideas there could be to treating and diagnosing a disease or illness.
HOW CAN I RELATE THIS TO MY FUTURE?
Honestly, It was nice to see different opinions, as I feel in
college a lot of the time students are subjected to one idea, usually
that of the professor. As a student, I liked being able to be presented information and then develop my own opinion regarding the issue at hand, rather than just adapting someone else's opinion. As an up and coming physician, It will be important to develop my own opinions. By using the approaches taught in this course, I can stray from the usual stigmas associated with how other's view treatment and illness. I found that I thought the biological/ecological approach, as well as, the applied approach was most helpful in understanding disease and illness in an academic and professional manner.
The first approach I found most helpful in understanding illness was the biological/ecological approach to medical anthropology. I found it very interesting that different genes and locations could greatly increase the risk of getting a disease or illness. Because most people, averagely, do not have a say to where they live or what genes they were born with, it seems that people are sometimes, unknowingly, forced into disease and illness, which I see as unfair. I think the most memorable article read that reflects the biological/ecological approach to medical anthropology is seen in "How Race becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality, written by Dr. Clarence Gravlee. In the article, Gravlee discusses how race is view in modern culture. He states that because race cannot be distinctively grouped, race must be developed based on culture and social implications. I never pondered the idea that race was something more than just skin color. I thought they people were the way they were because they were a certain skin color, which meant they had their own ideas. However, my idea did not explain those that live in, as an example, a primary black neighborhood, although they are white, but still have the same mannerisms and cultural identities. I learned that race is not skin color and that only you can identify with a race, that is, no body can tell you what race you are or are not. Gravlee, most importantly notes, that although race is chosen by an individual, race does subject people to different negative or positive co-factors that may cause or not cause a disease or illness. An example from the article is seen below, in which, those who identified with the black race were more likely to die as an infant.
The first approach I found most helpful in understanding illness was the biological/ecological approach to medical anthropology. I found it very interesting that different genes and locations could greatly increase the risk of getting a disease or illness. Because most people, averagely, do not have a say to where they live or what genes they were born with, it seems that people are sometimes, unknowingly, forced into disease and illness, which I see as unfair. I think the most memorable article read that reflects the biological/ecological approach to medical anthropology is seen in "How Race becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality, written by Dr. Clarence Gravlee. In the article, Gravlee discusses how race is view in modern culture. He states that because race cannot be distinctively grouped, race must be developed based on culture and social implications. I never pondered the idea that race was something more than just skin color. I thought they people were the way they were because they were a certain skin color, which meant they had their own ideas. However, my idea did not explain those that live in, as an example, a primary black neighborhood, although they are white, but still have the same mannerisms and cultural identities. I learned that race is not skin color and that only you can identify with a race, that is, no body can tell you what race you are or are not. Gravlee, most importantly notes, that although race is chosen by an individual, race does subject people to different negative or positive co-factors that may cause or not cause a disease or illness. An example from the article is seen below, in which, those who identified with the black race were more likely to die as an infant.
The second approach I found most useful was the applied approach. I thought it was important to actually do work with people and find out why certain organizations succeed or fail at spreading their messages of health. I am a person that likes to do, not just think. I think that by interacting with the public and trying to develop better treatment plans based on cultural differences would be more effective than just providing information to the public. I think this approach has the potential to have the most lasting effects on biomedicine. I was surprised to see that people, such as Dr. Farmer, seen in Dr. Farmer's Remedy, a 60 minute special, dedicate their lives to preventing and treating illness in first world countries. Using the applied approach to medical anthropology, Dr. Farmer has developed a hospital that provides medical care to those who would normally not have access. He discusses how, although most of the diseases he sees are treatable, before his hospital, a lot of people would die due to lack of medical care. Dr. Farmer integrates himself into the lives of his patients, which allows him to connect culturally with them. By doing so, he is able to teach those living in the county how to run a hospital and provide medical care, a service that can then be continued on following Dr. Farmer's death (Dr. Farmer's Remedy, 2008).
WHAT ELSE?
One topic that I would add to this course is the topic of gender. I feel like since race was so heavily touched on in the course that it would only be fair to show how different countries view gender. I know that America only values two genders: male and female; however, I know that some other countries valve more than two genders or did not even place significance on what gender someone relates with. Also, I think it would be fair to address that, along different cultures, females receive different treatments and are upheld to stricter standards then that of males. I would present the documentary "Harsh Beauty", which can be found on youtube to show the life of the hijra gender, or third gender, that resides mostly in India. Gender is like race in the fact that the gender is chosen by the person, not by sex organs, etc.
WHAT ELSE?
One topic that I would add to this course is the topic of gender. I feel like since race was so heavily touched on in the course that it would only be fair to show how different countries view gender. I know that America only values two genders: male and female; however, I know that some other countries valve more than two genders or did not even place significance on what gender someone relates with. Also, I think it would be fair to address that, along different cultures, females receive different treatments and are upheld to stricter standards then that of males. I would present the documentary "Harsh Beauty", which can be found on youtube to show the life of the hijra gender, or third gender, that resides mostly in India. Gender is like race in the fact that the gender is chosen by the person, not by sex organs, etc.
Bibliography:
"Dr. Farmer's Remedy. CBS News. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/dr-farmers-remedy/.
"Harsh Beauty". Youtube. Accessed August 10, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYIz45Uklns.
Gravlee, Clarence C. "How Race Becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality." Shutter Shock. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/files/2012/06/Gravlee-How-Race-Becomes-Biology-Embodiment-of-Social-Inequality.pdf.
Shutter Shock. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-16436989/stock-photo-flags-of-the-world-sorted-alphabetically-with-official-colors-and-details.html.
"Dr. Farmer's Remedy. CBS News. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/dr-farmers-remedy/.
"Harsh Beauty". Youtube. Accessed August 10, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYIz45Uklns.
Gravlee, Clarence C. "How Race Becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality." Shutter Shock. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp204-us14/files/2012/06/Gravlee-How-Race-Becomes-Biology-Embodiment-of-Social-Inequality.pdf.
Shutter Shock. Accessed August 10, 2014. http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-16436989/stock-photo-flags-of-the-world-sorted-alphabetically-with-official-colors-and-details.html.