Medical anthropology embraces the combination of physical and cultural anthropology and applies it to medicine in the healing of an individual. It acknowledges the impact the spirit has on the body and how it affects someone's health. It encompasses all the spectrums of health ranging from looking at the body as a machine and looking at it as a vessel for the spirit (Joralemon 2010:6). Through travelling, wars, and missionary work, evaluating this science was found to be difficult applying to everyone given the variety of cultures. Medical anthropology aided in this by studying the functional theory of relationships in social institutions and the holistic accounts of sociocultural systems. Anthropology may be defined as the study of humankind's biological and cultural capacities (Joralemon 2010:6).
Culture is composed of many factors such as religion, art, food, environment, habits, and language. A group's culture consists of how they maintain a working economic status, manage health and illness, worship, and provide sustenance for families.
Culture is composed of many factors such as religion, art, food, environment, habits, and language. A group's culture consists of how they maintain a working economic status, manage health and illness, worship, and provide sustenance for families.
Cultural-constructivist (interpretive) approach- addresses how a society's understanding of and response to disease is shaped by cultural assumptions about such things as the beginning and end of life, the workings of the human organism, and the causes of illness and misfortune (Joralemon 2010:10).
Ecological (ecological/evolutionary) approach- analyzes the interaction between sociocultural patterns and the biological and environmental parameters within which humans operate (Joralemon 2010:10).
More recently, medical anthropologists have been divided between critical and applied medical anthropology!