Books in the Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology series

This book examines the role of Nepali physicians in the revolutionary changes in 1990. It speaks more broadly to anyone interested in the relationship between science and politics. Can medical doctors safely politicize medical science without undermining their claims to democracy? Can doctors in the democratizing world afford not to?

This study of adversity and its social causes in rural Uganda considers how people deal with life's uncertainties - sickness, suffering, marital problems, failure, and death. It emphasises the fact that remedies often fail and that doubt and uncertainty persist.

Combining a rich local ethnography with an analysis of local and national politics and the politics of aid, Lynn Morgan shows how community participation in health-care in Costa Rica was wrecked by national and international political conflicts.

This book considers how the unique mountain ecology and socio-cultural patterns of the Himalayan region of Ladakh contribute to a peculiar pattern of infant mortality. Highlighting the roles of ecology, culture, history, and political economy, it stresses the burdens of women's work in this region as crucial to birth outcome.

Medicines are more than chemical substances with medical effects. They have social lives because they move between people; they carry meaning and offer possibilities for communication and control. This book uses examples from five continents to examine central problems in the study of medicines including social efficacy, symbolism, and commodification.

Traditionally, the effectiveness of medical treatments is attributed to specific elements, such as drugs, but many things in medicine cannot be accounted for in this way. For example, inert drugs (placebos) often have dramatic effects on people. This 2002 book guides the reader expertly through a very complex body of literature.

This book shows how practitioners in the emerging field of 'cultural epidemiology' describe human health, communicate with diverse audiences, and intervene to improve health and prevent disease. By unpacking many common disease risks and epidemiologic categories, it reveals unexamined assumptions and shows how sociocultural context influences measurement of disease.

A study of how medicine and morality in rural Haiti are shaped both by local religious traditions and by biomedical and folk medical practices.

This interdisciplinary collection on newly created biomedical technologies and their practical application reveals how biomedical technologies are produced through the agencies of tools and techniques, scientists and doctors, funding bodies, patients, clients, and the public. Despite shared concerns, there is little consensus among contributors about the objectives of their research.

Based on her experience as disciple of a private practitioner, participating in scholarly seminars of a senior Chinese doctor, and studying at a college of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Elisabeth Hsu provides an insider's account of traditional medical education in China, revealing the way in which context of instruction shapes knowledge.

In this volume, anthropologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and historians share aspects of illness working with the concept of schizophrenia.

This thought-provoking volume explores women's interaction with medicine. In a series of accessible case studies, the contributors show that women react pragmatically to medical technology, with responses ranging from acceptance to resistance or indifference. This book will be a key text in medical anthropology and women's studies.

In this volume, anthropologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and historians share aspects of illness working with the concept of schizophrenia.

This thought-provoking volume explores women's interaction with medicine. In a series of accessible case studies, the contributors show that women react pragmatically to medical technology, with responses ranging from acceptance to resistance or indifference. This book will be a key text in medical anthropology and women's studies.

A collection of essays examining the relationship between cultural values and the body as a source of symbols and instrument of experience. The contributors discuss topics including dietary customs, the expression of emotion, the experience of pain, and political violence.