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Department: ANTH

Course No: 246

Credits: 3

Title: Illness and Curing

Contact: Kevin McBride

Content Area: CA4 Diversity and Multiculturalism

Diversity: CA4 Non-International

WQ: W

Catalog Copy: 246W. Illness and Curing. Either semester. Three credits. One 3-hour class period. Erickson Cross cultural analysis of ethnomedicine, major medical systems, curing and healing, illness and social control, gender and healing, and the role of traditionalmedicine, alternative medicine, and biomedicine in international health.

Course Information:
a. This course will take a cross-cultural look at illness and curing throughout the world from the medical anthropological perspective. Students will learn the basic principles underlying healing systems and how these principles are elaborated in different cultural and medical traditions.
b. Two essays of 3-5 pages each and one term paper of 10-15 pages. Weekly readings are discussed in class. Essay 1: Hmong culture and biomedicine. Essay 2: The culture of surgeons. Research paper on alternative healers of healting systems. Final exam.
c. Ethnomedicine, major medical systems, curing and healing, illness and social control, healers and training, gender and healing, and the role of traditional medicine, alternative medicine, and biomedicine in international health.

Meets Goals of Gen Ed.: This course prepares students to think about healing in a much broader perspective than that allowed by biomedicine. They are encouraged to explore many healing systems and to critique them from both science and humanistic perspectives. Thus, they acquire consciousness of the diversity of human culture and experience as they relate to illness and healign. They are encouraged to understand human suffering and the need to alleviate it as the motivation for all medical systems. Using a historical perspective in the development of modern biomedicine, students become aware of how biomedicine and other healing practices fit into the curret era and society. The essays and term paper force students to think critically about what they have read and to do independent research on a topic of interest to them.

CA4 Criteria:
1&2. The course emphasizes that there are varieties of human experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and values and that medical systems are social structures and cultural creations.
3. We consider similarities and differences among diverse medical systems and their approaches to illness and healing.
4. Human rights are addressed in the context of individual choice in treatment options as this is affected by political-economic context. Migration issues are addressed for both people and the globalization of medical systems and information.

W Criteria:
1. All writing assignments enable and enhance learning the content of the course. Two 3-5 page essays on assigned topics encourage critical thinking. The content of these essays will draw from readings, lectures, films, and class discussions. The 10-15 page research paper will discuss a healing system of the student's choice. All three papers will require students to assess and integrate information from a variety of sources.
2. Formal instruction will be given in class on what a research paper is – the components and structure. Individual conferences will be used to help students formulate their research questions, organize data and other information, structure their arguments, and present conclusions.
3. Students will receive comments and editorial suggestions on the two short essays. They will be required to submit a first draft of the term paper and will receive comments and editorial changes from the instructor. They will then be required to resubmit the revised paper, will receive additional comments, and will incorporate changes into the final draft.