MnTC #07-150RR

Revised CCO

November 14, 2007 

NORMANDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COMMON COURSE OUTLINE 

ANTHROPOLOGY 1899: MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY:  HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND HEALING ACROSS CULTURES

3 Credits         Prerequisites:  None                            Revision Date Nov 6, 2007

CATALOG DESCRIPTION:  3 CR FALL, SPR – This course explores various cultural traditions, including those in the U.S., and how culture shapes our experience, understanding and treatment of illness and health.  The course covers the evolution of diseases and contemporary disease trends.  It compares different kinds of healers and healing.  This course includes service-learning opportunities.   

MNTC GOALS: This course is designed to fulfill the following MNSCU goals and competencies:  2abcd, 7bce, 8abc. 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  This course explores the application of anthropological theories and methods to questions of health, illness, medicine, and healing.  In a holistic and multidisciplinary manner, the evolution of disease perceptions is examined in Western medicine and in traditional cultures.  Culture-shaped experiences relating to rituals and healing are studied cross-culturally.  Service-learning components are offered each semester.

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES:  Students completing this course should be able: 

1. to recognize and use basic terms and concepts important to discussion of

anthropology and medicine.

(7ce, 8ab) 

2. to recognize and critique basic intellectual frameworks (hypotheses, theories, ethical perspectives) used in the study of anthropology and medicine.

(2b, 7bc, 8c) 

3. to describe cross-cultural diversity in health beliefs and practices in order

a. to interpret the reasons for them, given the cultural context in which they occur, and

b. to identify special problems in healthcare in the United States and elsewhere.

    (2ab, 7bce, 8abc) 

4. to describe and analyze health and illness in 5 categories:

a. biomedicine (pluralistic medicine)

b. traditional tribal medicine

c. folk beliefs and remedies in pluralistic societies

d. religious healing

e. alternative medicine.

     (2abcd, 7bce, 8abc) 

5. to identify and explain evolutionary and historical trends in health and  illness.

    (2abc, 8ac) 

6. to evaluate contemporary global epidemiological trends and project (predict and   

    develop) possible modes of intervention.

    (2abcd, 7bc, 8abc) 

7. to develop intellectual frameworks to interpret selected case material

a. in assigned readings, written ethnographies, and film, and 

b. in individual projects, which for some will be a service learning  project.

   (2bcd, 7bce, 8abc)  

EVALUATION:  Objective and/or essay exams will be used to evaluate students.  Other graded assignments or projects will be assigned.  Individual instructors devise their own specific methods and weighting systems.

Evaluation will be performed through:

Objective (multiple choice) test items         

Short answer test items                   

Essays (in class or take home)               

Student projects (service learning encouraged)