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Global environmental change and recent worldwide infectious-disease outbreaks make the ecological perspective of medical anthropology more important a field of study than ever. In this premier teaching text, authors Ann McElroy and Patricia K. Townsend integrate biocultural, environmental, and evolutionary approaches to the study of human health, providing a complete and authoritative ecological perspective that is essential for interpreting medical anthropology. Research by biological anthropologists, archaeologists, and paleopathologists illuminates the history and prehistory of disease, along with coverage of contemporary health issues, both local and global. This sixth edition is thoroughly revised and updated, with expanded discussion on the interaction of environment and infectious disease; new material on climate change, globalization, and the effects of war on physical and mental health; and an entirely new chapter on ethics in community health and medical anthropology. Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective captures the essentials of the discipline--and covers its ever-changing topics, trends, and developments--in an engaging, accessible way.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• About the Authors and Contributors(p. xi)
• Preface(p. xv)
• Chapter 1 The Ecology of Health and Disease(p. 1)
• Environment, Culture, and Health(p. 4)
• Anthropological Subdisciplines and Medical Anthropology(p. 6)
• Profile: Arctic Adaptations(p. 11)
• A Working Model of Ecology and Health(p. 20)
• Recommended Readings(p. 22)
• Chapter 2 Research Methods in Health Problems(p. 23)
• Anthropological Approaches to the Use of Medicinal Plants(p. 24)
• Bioenvironmental Data(p. 27)
• Profile: Cannibal Mourners(p. 31)
• Clinical Data(p. 34)
• Epidemiological Data(p. 36)
• Social and Cultural Data(p. 38)
• Recommended Readings(p. 49)
• Chapter 3 Human Biocultural Diversity and Health(p. 51)
• Evolution and Biological Diversity(p. 55)
• Human Immune Systems and Defense Against Disease(p. 60)
• Mutation, Genetic Change, and Disease Resistance(p. 63)
• Profile: Malaria and African Agriculture(p. 66)
• Evolution and Medicine(p. 70)
• Skin Color and Adaptation(p. 71)
• Recommended Readings(p. 73)
• Chapter 4 The Prehistory of Disease(p. 75)
• Paleopathology: The Study of Disease in Prehistory(p. 77)
• Nutrition and the Transition to Agriculture(p. 79)
• Profile: Dry Bones: Health in Southwestern Prehistory(p. 81)
• Beyond the Skeleton: Icemen and Mummies(p. 84)
• Daily Life in the Past: Clues from the Skeleton(p. 85)
• Violence and Inequality(p. 86)
• The Emergence of Cities(p. 88)
• Forensic Anthropology: Contemporary Applications(p. 90)
• Recommended Readings(p. 94)
• Chapter 5 Emerging Diseases of the 21st Century(p. 95)
• The Ecology of Disease in the Anthropocene(p. 98)
• Profile: The Medical Ecology of Cholera in Ecuador(p. 105)
• Emerging Diseases in Aging Populations(p. 111)
• Recommended Readings(p. 114)
• Chapter 6 Changing Population and Environmental Hazards Throughout Human History(p. 115)
• The Anthropological Study of Population(p. 117)
• Profile: Stress, Alcohol, and Demographic Change in Northern Siberia(p. 128)
• Environmental Trauma in Industrial Societies(p. 134)
• Recommended Readings(p. 137)
• Chapter 7 Human Reproduction as a Biocultural Process(p. 139)
• Evolutionary and Ecological Influences on Reproduction(p. 141)
• Pregnancy(p. 148)
• Profile: Three Birth Stories(p. 151)
• Care Providers in Pregnancy and Birth(p. 155)
• Birth Alternatives(p. 159)
• Maternal Mortality(p. 160)
• Toward an Ecology of Birth(p. 162)
• Recommended Readings(p. 162)
• Chapter 8 The Ecology of Nutrition
• Human Nutritional Requirements(p. 164)
• Subsistence by Hunting and Gathering(p. 165)
• Subsistence in the Humid Tropics(p. 168)
• Agriculture(p. 170)
• Profile: Local Differences in Iodine Deficiency Goiter in the Western Himalaya(p. 173)
• Industrial Agriculture(p. 178)
• The Anthropology of Food and Cooking(p. 180)
• Food, Medicine, or Drug?(p. 182)
• Recommended Readings(p. 186)
• Chapter 9 The Global Economy of Food: Stuffed or Starved(p. 187)
• Globalization and Food Systems(p. 189)
• The Obesity Epidemic: Alternative Interpretations(p. 191)
• Nutrition and Child Growth(p. 197)
• Food Insecurity(p. 202)
• Profile: Famine in Ethiopia(p. 205)
• Recommended Readings(p. 209)
• Chapter 10 Stress, Trauma, and Mental Illness(p. 211)
• Responding to Trauma: The Stress Concept(p. 212)
• Understanding the Physiology of Stress(p. 214)
• Can Stress Induce Healing?(p. 217)
• Biomarkers of Stress(p. 219)
• Stress and Psychiatric Disorders(p. 224)
• Profile: Legacies of War(p. 226)
• Culture-Bound Syndromes(p. 230)
• Resilience: A Buffer Against Stress(p. 234)
• Stress and Evolutionary Adaptedness(p. 235)
• Recommended Readings(p. 236)
• Chapter 11 Health Resources for Vulnerable Populations(p. 237)
• Change and Vulnerability(p. 238)
• Repercussions of Culture Contact on Health in the Arctic(p. 240)
• Profile: Culture Change and Inuit Health: Two Families(p. 245)
• Health Care for Displaced Populations(p. 248)
• Medical Pluralism(p. 250)
• Health Disparities(p. 254)
• Living with Disability and Coping with Vulnerability(p. 258)
• Recommended Readings(p. 261)
• Chapter 12 Health Costs and Benefits of Globalization(p. 263)
• Spirit Possession and Responses to Industrialization in Malaysia(p. 264)
• Globalization and Health(p. 266)
• Evaluating the Health Effects of Agricultural Development(p. 271)
• Strategies for Improving Health(p. 276)
• Paying the Costs of Industrial Development(p. 278)
• Profile: Hazardous Waste and the Mohawks at Akwesasne(p. 281)
• Recommended Readings(p. 285)
• Chapter 13 First, Do No Harm: Ethics in Medical Anthropology(p. 287)
• Medical Anthropology and Bioethics(p. 289)
• Profile: Using Anthropological Methods to Understand Condom Use for Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention in the Inner City(p. 294)
• Difficulties in Following Bioethical Regulations in Anthropological Research(p. 298)
• Ethical Dilemmas in the Field(p. 299)
• Ethical Regulation and Conflicts in Anthropology(p. 302)
• Activism, Engaged Anthropology, and Participatory Research(p. 307)
• Recommended Readings(p. 309)
• Chapter 14 Applying Medical Anthropology in Health Careers(p. 311)
• Medical Anthropologists in International Health(p. 312)
• Career Paths in Medical Anthropology(p. 315)
• Profile: Learning Field Methods in Costa Rica(p. 317)
• Anthropology and Public Policy(p. 321)
• Recommended Readings(p. 324)
• References Cited(p. 325)
• Index(p. 359)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Ann McElroy is associate professor emerita of anthropology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. She has done research in Nunavut, Canada, for the past forty-seven years and is the author of Nunavut Generations-. Change and Continuity in Baffin island Inuit Communities.
Patricia K. Townsend is research associate professor at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Her most recent book is Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies. She has done fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Peru, and at Superfund sites in the United States.