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Literature review
Key Theories from Critical Medical Anthropology for Public Health Research.
Part I: Starting with Foucault: cultures of medicine and meanings of illness
Jennifer J. Carroll
This article summarizes four significant theoretical concepts from the field of
Critical Medical Anthropology in two parts: in the first part, biopower/discipline
and explanatory models; in the second, structural violence, and identity
politics and biological citizenship. The four subjects reviewed here have been
chosen for their importance to our understanding of human behaviors related to
health and illness, as well as for the impact that they can have on theory,
research, and practice in the field of public health. These critical theories
can provide new ways of thinking about professional roles, medical decisions,
disease diagnosis and etiology, treatment adherence, prevention messaging, and
all sorts of health-related behaviors and systems of understanding. They can
also help public health researchers shed light on the human beliefs and
activities that shape patterns of disease within and across populations. Whether
a research question is being formulated or research findings are being analyzed,
the critical social theories outlined here can foster a more holistic
understanding of the human element in any public health project.
Keywords
social anthropology; medical anthropology; social theory; qualitative research;
public health; illness; explanatory models; structural violence; identity;
biopower; Foucault.
Full text (pdf) in English
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