Syllabus: World Perspectives on Health--Addiction and Harm Reduction
ANTH 2136: World Perspectives on Health
Fall 2021
10:30-12:20 M/W
AC Room 216
Professor Laurie Greene
Office Hours: m/w 12:30-1:30
or any day by appointment
Office: AC224g or on Zoom
Cell Phone: text in emergency (609) 214-6596
This semester we will be exploring the burgeoning field of medical anthropology. Medical anthropology is an applied discipline which starts with two insights;
- first, that cultural premises which are often unconscious or difficult to recognize shape the way that we understand health and healing practices (illness and health are an “imposition of human meanings on naturally occurring processes”),
- and second, that disease patterns, social norms, and socio-economic arrangements are intrinsically related (social factors determine disease patterns).
Anthropology of Addiction: In order to understand these concepts we will be looking at the field i general with examples focusing on the SOCIAL and CULTURAL NEXUS of ILLNESS and DISEASE, especially as it pertains to the unequal distribution of health and well-beings across the world. This term we will be focusing (as always) on a relevant and timely issue, the epidemic (pandemic?) of addiction and the ways addiction is defined cross-culturally and "treated". In particular, we will be looking at controversial approaches (harm reduction and needle exchange) and WHY in fact, these are controversial in American culture. We will also look at alternative understanding of addiction cross-culturally.
Drugs have been a constant and often controversial component of human history. They play a
powerful role in political debates and economic transactions. They are central to health interventions
and projects. They serve as both a facilitator and a subject of informal interactions and conversations.
Drugs are, undoubtedly, an important part of our collective and daily lives.
Anthropologists have long studied drugs, focusing heavily on the phenomena of drug use and
addiction. This course explores this scholarship to trace how drugs and addiction – as topics of
cultural, political, economic, and health concern – have been approached and theorized within
anthropology at different historical moments both in the United States and internationally. This course examines the range and
variety of anthropological and ethnographic research produced on these topics. We will cast a wide
net and offer broad definitions of “drugs” and “addiction.” This will allow us to not only draw on a
diverse array of anthropological readings and themes, but also investigate how legal and illegal
substances are culturally consumed, abused, enjoyed, regulated, celebrated, and vilified.
"Anthropology, Activism and Inequality"--Anthropology in general, and medical anthropology in particular has an activist agenda. Anthropologists have an ethical obligation to those who they study and in medical anthropology this has been translated to "health equity"-the rights of all individuals everywhere to live healthy and fulfilling lives free from violence, be it physical or "structural". The greatest proponent of this position has been medical anthropologist/doctor Paul Farmer. In his ground-breaking works (Infectious Inequalities, Pathologies of Power,AIDS and Accusation), Farmer describes illness as a disease of poverty, and implements models for alleviating disease and suffering in the poorest place in the world.
Our anthropological experiences this semester will focus on "infectious inequalities" within our communities by understanding the "cultural underpinnings" of these illnesses as well as finding "local solutions" for them based on ethnographic "fieldwok". This fieldwork will work to collect life histories of individuals from some of our most impoverished community members, and allow this stories to provide potential solutions to limited access to adequate healthcare. How much and how we carry out this research will depend on the trajectory of the pandemic. So, we will be as creative and accommodating as possible.
Our anthropological experiences this semester will focus on "infectious inequalities" within our communities by understanding the "cultural underpinnings" of these illnesses as well as finding "local solutions" for them based on ethnographic "fieldwok". This fieldwork will work to collect life histories of individuals from some of our most impoverished community members, and allow this stories to provide potential solutions to limited access to adequate healthcare. How much and how we carry out this research will depend on the trajectory of the pandemic. So, we will be as creative and accommodating as possible.
Student Learning Objectives ---This course has three objectives:
1) to provide you with an overview of the rich anthropological
scholarship on drugs and addiction;
2) to expose you to the variety of anthropological perspectives
from which to explore the complex issues of drug use and addiction; and
3) to create opportunities
for you to think critically about how drugs and addiction are understood, analyzed, and managed as
topics of cultural, political, economic, and health importance.
Texts:
(1) Exploring Medical Anthropology (Joralemon)-prentice hall (3rd or 4th edition)--SUGGESTED
(2) The Anthropology of Addiction and Recovery (Glasser) -Waveland Press, 2011--REQUIRED
(3) Articles and other resources linked to this BLOG
(4) Consuming Habits. PDF
Syllabus and Reading List
Week 1: An Introduction to Medical Anthropology (September 8)
-course description and requirements, definition of terms
Readings: READING ON ADDICTION (emailed pdf)
Week 2: What's so Cultural About Disease (September 13-15)
-Tenets of Medical Anthropology
Readings: Joraleson, Exploring Medical Anthropology, Chapter 1
Week 3: Illness Narratives and the Experience of Illness (September 20-22)
-Phenomenology, Narrative experience, Examples, Ethnography, auto ethnography and
methodology
Readings: Joraleson, Exploring Medical Anthropology, Chapters 2 (9/20)
Exercises: Completing a Health Narrative/The Ethnographic Interview (9/22) email
Exercises: Completing a Health Narrative/The Ethnographic Interview (9/22) email
Week 4-5: Defining Drugs & Traditional Uses (September 27-29)
"Peculiar Substances" by Andrew Sherratt in Consuming Habits (9/27)
Film: Ancient Drugs (9/29)
Due: Auto-ethnographies September 29 (Wednesday) please email these and look for a return email that confirms I received your work. email
Week 6: Defining Illness/DefiningAddiction (October 4-6)
Readings: Here (Susan Sontag) (10/4)
Here (metaphors of the ill body) (10/4)
Here ("disease") (10/6)
Here "Defining Addiction" (Merrill) (and Chapter 1 -above- in Merrill) (10/6)
Week 7: Infectious InequalityThe politics of Illness (October 11-13)
-economics of structural inequality
-inequality factors in addiction
Indigenous Peoples (here) (10/13)
Privilege (here) pp.91-103 (10/13)
Here (Paul Farmer) (10/11)
Week 8: Legal Drugs: Caffeine, Alcohol, and Tobacco (October 18-20)
Readings: Merrill, Chapter 2 (alcohol)- (10/18)
Merrill, Chapter 3 (tobacco)-(10/20)
Consuming Habits, Chapter 7, pp. 142-157.
Due: Cultural Narratives of Addiction #1-- Due October 20
Week 9:“Drug or Medicine: Psychedelics” (October 25-27)
Readings: Cannabis (here)
LSD (Here)
Film: Reefer Madness (here)
Week 10: Illegal Drugs and Other Prohibitions (November 1)
Readings: Merrill, Chapter 4
Week 12: Treatment and Recovery (November 15-17)
-The holistic community and its narratives (essential oils, food, vitamins, etc.)
-Traditional Therapies
Readings: Merrill, Chapter 5
Ayahuasca here
Harm Reduction narratives here
Resource Page here
Due: Cultural Narratives of Recovery#2-- Due November 17
Week 13: Harm Reduction:Overdose/HIV/HepC (November 22-24)
Readings: "Grievable Lives" Here
"Harm Reduction" Here
No Class November 24-26 Thanks giving Break
Week 14: Presentations (November 29-December 6)
Due: Cultural Narratives: Stories of Stigma --Due November 29
Final Exam TBD
Grading:
Attendance Policy (required) You are expected to attend all classes, and attendance will be recorded. Phone use is prohibited in class---NO PHONES-- This is a class on ADDICTION. I will note your phone behavior in class. I reserve the right to deduct points from the graded materials below if you miss more than 3 classes or are frequently on your phone.
Midterm Exam (25%) The midterm exam will cover topics from all texts, videos, and lectures from the first half of the semester.
Final Exam (25% points) The final exam will cover the second half of the course, but will require cumulative knowledge from the semester. It will cover topics from all texts, videos, and lectures from the course, with an emphasis on the last half of the course material.
Attendance Policy (required) You are expected to attend all classes, and attendance will be recorded. Phone use is prohibited in class---NO PHONES-- This is a class on ADDICTION. I will note your phone behavior in class. I reserve the right to deduct points from the graded materials below if you miss more than 3 classes or are frequently on your phone.
Midterm Exam (25%) The midterm exam will cover topics from all texts, videos, and lectures from the first half of the semester.
Final Exam (25% points) The final exam will cover the second half of the course, but will require cumulative knowledge from the semester. It will cover topics from all texts, videos, and lectures from the course, with an emphasis on the last half of the course material.
Fieldwork Project (50%) Addiction: Stigma, Diagnosis, and Treatment
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