Medical Anthropology – Introduction

Medical Anthropology is the fastest-growing sub-field of anthropology. Around the globe, governments and health bureaucracies become aware that their plans cannot be realized without including the cultural and social dimensions of health. Cultural practices and social norms may inhibit or even make impossible the programmes developed by health bureaucracies, and cultural understandings of diseases and illnesses may have an impact on health care programmes and policies. Precisely these dynamics, between illness, society, culture and health care, constitute the focus of Medical Anthropological teaching and research. It is now recognized that it is essential to understand also "the patient's point of view" in order to provide health care efficiently.

That is why, around the world, there is a growing demand for Medical Anthropologists, not only in academia, but also in health bureaucracies, development organizations, advertising firms, etc. Most important of all, there is an increasing awareness that western biomedicine is not always the best or most appropriate method for treating certain kinds of medical and psychological problems. Therefore, governments and international organizations are becoming interested in understanding traditional systems of healing – an anthropological specialty – and incorporating them into their health plans when possible. In the long run, non-western cultures may have much to teach the world about how to live healthier lives.

The current health problems of South Asia are diverse. On the one hand, "old" diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, and reproductive problems continue to plague much of the population, just as they have done for generations. On the other hand, the new "lifestyle diseases" like diabetes, adipositas, and heart and coronary diseases, present novel challenges for the health of South Asians. Public Health professionals and development agencies are concerned to make effective interventions to address these problems, and we are convinced that the safest and most effective solutions will be those, which take the historical and cultural context of South Asia into account.

Health and Society in South Asia is not only about diseases. We are also interested in traditions of health-promotion such as yoga and meditation; in South Asian theories and practices regarding the body, food and diet, and psychological well-being; in the way that South Asians incorporate new health technologies into their culture; and in many other topics as well. But studying the relationship between health and society is also an academic enterprise, because it helps to understand social, cultural, political, economical and last not least medical phenomena in a social science perspective. Health is an important factor for all facets of life and society, and the ways it is thought to be achieved, presented, and politically and socially employed and sustained are best studied and analysed in an interdisciplinary way.

You can access a great deal of information about Medical Anthropology and other health-related themes in South Asia via this new portal: Health and Healing in South Asia. You will be able to read online dissertations and theses in the field of Medical Anthropology and find information about researchers, organisations and institutions.

If you want to contact us, please write to: mahassa@uni-heidelberg.de.