On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

• Appreciate the scope of medical anthropology and how its literature and central theories enable you to analyse illness and healing practices in their social and cultural contexts;
• Understand how biology, culture, politics, and ecology interact to shape illness and health, health systems, and patterns;
• Interview, analyse, and represent the illness experience of another person, emphasising the integrative factors (culture, politics, social structure, etc.) influencing their condition;
• Apply the theories and concepts of medical anthropology to critically evaluate one’s own culture and determinants of illness and health;
• Understand how healing systems often cut across categories of religion, medicine, and social organisation;
• Understand how illness and health (and normality) are constructed within particular social, cultural, political, and environmental contexts; and
• Identify how inequality, social hierarchy, and structural violence generate unequal and often unique health determinants in the global and transnational context.

The assessment tasks all work together with the weekly readings and seminar discussions to achieve these learning outcomes.

Participation in Seminar and Written Discussion Guide

Due: Weekly

Each student is expected to actively participate in the seminar discussion.  Seminar participation is mandatory.  Students are expected to be active participants in class and demonstrate that they have read and engaged with the readings.  Participation also means contributing to a general atmosphere of scholarly enquiry, showing respect for the opinions of others; thus, listening to and engaging with the contributions of others is just as important as talking yourself! 

Each week students will prepare a written preparation guide based on the week's readings and bring this to seminar to help contribute to discussion. This written preparation guide will be the basis for your seminar participation mark, which will also be based on how you engage with your peers in discussion.

Once during the semester, each student will take a turn leading part of the seminar discussion. 

Note: failure to attend seminars without approved ‘Special Consideration’ (see Unit Handbook) will lower your mark. You will not be able to successfully complete this unit if you miss multiple seminars. 

During the seminar, we are looking for the following contributions to seminar discussions:

-initiating discussion -giving information -asking for information -raising questions -restating another’s contribution -asking for clarification -giving salient examples -encouraging others -relieving group tension

We are NOT looking for the following contributions to seminar discussion:

-expression of unsupported opinions -attempts to dominate discussion -mocking othersIn your verbal contributions to discussions, I will be looking for remarks that engage thoughtfully with the readings and with your peers.  Do not mock anyone’s contributions.  If you don’t understand or agree with something someone says, ask them to clarify, or explain respectfully why you disagree.  Everyone should feel free to speak up.  Please do not drown out quieter voices.  If you are having trouble speaking up in class discussion, please come to speak with the course convenor privately and together we can strategise ways to facilitate your contribution.

Midterm Exam

Due: Week 8

An online, open-note, short-answer midterm exam in Week 8 will assess how well you have learned the core theories discussed up to that point in the semester. Additional details provided on iLearn.

Illness Narrative Essay, including ethics training

Due: Week 11

Your ethnographic essay will be based on an interview that you will conduct with a friend or family member about an illness or medical treatment they have experienced. You will write an “illness narrative” along the lines outlined by Kleinman and Good, locating their illness / treatment experience within a broader social, cultural, and political economic context. Before you conduct your illness narrative, you must complete the online ethics training at ethicstraining.mq.edu.au. Additional details about this assessment task available on iLearn.

Final Exam

Due: Week 13

An online, open-note, short-answer final exam in Week 13 will assess how well you have learned the material covered over the entire semester. Additional details provided on iLearn.

The seminar meets on Fridays from 5-7pm in the G08 Tutorial Room, 25a Wallys Walk.

Your active participation is essential to your learning experience.  The weekly 2-hour seminars will not be recorded, so you must plan to attend in person, and participation is a mandatory component of your final mark in the unit. Detailed information about seminar topics, resources, and assessment tasks can all be found on iLearn.

The unit convener will use the first half of each seminar to introduce concepts, provide background information or examples, or offer an overview of the key issues under discussion. The second half of the seminar will be devoted to discussing the issues and readings as well as your progress on the illness narrative project.

Seminar attendance and participation are mandatory.  Students are expected to be active participants and demonstrate that they have actively engaged the readings and material presented. Each student will take a turn helping to lead the seminar discussion one week with the unit convenor.

All required readings will be available electronically through iLearn.