This unit focuses on the nature and practice of healing and medical care in different historical and cross-cultural contexts. It draws on medical anthropology and sociology to explore the close articulation between individual suffering and the social, moral and political order within societies. The unit encourages students to think critically about (1) conceptions of the body and suffering; (2) the health care seeking process; and (3) the cultural organisation of medical knowledge and practice. These themes are developed in topics which include various approaches to illness, disease and health; the language, symbolism and imagery of healing and medicine; lay perspectives of the illness... -- Course Website
Prerequisites: any Level 1 Anthropology unit
