Introducing Health Anthropology
A Discipline in Action
Merrill Singer author Hans A Baer author Debbi Long author Alex Pavlotski author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:26th Mar '25
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A biosocial approach to understanding health in all of its dimensions across societies and through time
Introducing Medical Anthropology: A Discipline in Action, provides students with a first look at the growing field of medical and health anthropology. The narrative is guided by three unifying themes. First, health-oriented anthropologists are involved in the process of helping to change the world around them through their work in applied projects, policy initiatives, and advocacy. Second, the authors present the fundamental importance of culture and social relationships in health and illness by demonstrating that illness and disease involve complex biosocial processes and that resolving them requires attention to a range of factors beyond biology. Third, through an examination of the issue of health inequality, this book underlines the need for an analysis that moves beyond cultural or even ecological models of health toward a comprehensive biosocial approach. Such an approach integrates biological, cultural, and social factors in building unified theoretical understandings of the origin of ill health, while contributing to the building of effective and equitable national health-care systems.
“Singer, Baer, Long, and Pavlotski converse with enduring and current concerns, themes, and even labels in the context of novel disciplinary paradigms in this richly detailed and nuanced updated edition, presented with case studies accessible to contemporary scholars and students.” -- Nicola Bulled, University of Connecticut
“A foundational text for understanding how cultural dimensions of human suffering and healing relate to local and global social inequalities. The case studies foster critical reflection of plural medical systems, offering insight into how access to vital resources shape human responses to the world’s most pressing health conditions.” -- Michael C. Ennis-McMillan, Skidmore College
“Merrill Singer and colleagues’ timely text is a thoughtful, detailed consideration of historical and current theoretical and methodological practices in health anthropology. The authors draw on their decades of experience to critically inspect the complexities of different medical systems, particularly from a health inequity, biopolitical, and political ecology lens.” -- Shir Ginzburg, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
“A classic orientation to an applied field, this book puts the historical praxis of understanding society and health at the center.” -- Emily Mendenhall, Georgetown University
ISBN: 9781538187289
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 612g
342 pages
Fourth Edition