The Taste for Knowledge

Medical Anthropology Facing Medical Realities

Bibliographic Data

ID2266299
AuthorsRonnie Moore (0000-0002-2372-1623, University College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume33
Issue4
Pages656-657
Publication date2011-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01352.x
OpenAlexW1952833359
LanguageEN
Citations received10

The Taste for Knowledge: Medical Anthropology Facing Medical Realities Fainzang, S., Hem, H.E. and M.B. Risør ( eds ) . Aarhus University Press 2010 €40.95 (pbk ) 258 pp ISBN: 978-87-7934-5157 This edited book brings together a collection of papers from mostly European medical anthropologists that were presented at a conference in Denmark in 2008. It discusses a series of studies within a European setting and reports on a variety of key medical and health-related issues that affect people within the ‘modern’ Western context. The focus is on the role of anthropology in, allied with, or critical of (bio)medicine. Sub-themes deal with practice, power and experiences. The aims of the book were to address research findings from social anthropologists who specialise in medical and health care issues and who practice ‘anthropology at home’. The choice of title is curious, although the subtitle is more representative of what the book is about. In just a few places there are translation errors. However this does not detract from the valuable findings presented and some well-written chapters. This ambitious book consists of two sections. Section one starts with a general introduction and discussion about the identity of anthropologists (at home) and how they are positioned within the academy and alongside formal medicine. This considers multi/interdisciplinarity, epistemes, ideologies, practice and power. Key points raised also reflect wider general concerns within medical anthropology, highlighted for example in the USA by Carolyn Sargent (Who are we in the public imagination?). The text then moves to a second more emic orientation considering (via mostly chronic illness) ‘medical realities’, diverse and changing ‘medical systems’ and how patients manoeuvre in, and between, these ‘realities’. The book benefits from presenting several contrasting positions. Some contributors (e.g. Comelles) also have medical backgrounds and are well positioned to provide critical insight from within biomedicine. Interdisciplinary collaboration is hailed as important by some, yet others are more critical. Professional identity, research strategies and agendas, status and power relations are all in the mix (Fainzang, Fortin, Hem). Andersen contrasts biomedical and lay interpretations in relation to why patients with cancer delay presenting to the physician (‘proper conduct’) highlighting local cultural, pragmatic, rational orientation and the social cultural worlds of patients. Middelthon et al. address the issue of body fat (deemed a ‘public health enemy’), discussing common (and apparently misleading) ideas surrounding fat. This places fat in a social, cultural, moral and biomedical context. They also suggest how biomedicine has a role in informing the social sciences. Van der Geest deals with subjectivity, authority and authenticity and discusses the issue of partnerships between anthropological research and patients in the research process. In the second section of the book Risør introduces ‘medical realities’ via medically unexplained symptoms, legitimate illness and the limitations of the clinical encounter as well as recourse to alternative treatment such as CAM and Folk Medicine. Johannessen’s comparative research into cancer in Italy (Tuscany) and Denmark develops this theme, considering multiple medical realities and ‘complementary medicine’, suggesting that political and economic structures (and structures of medical provision) influenced attitudes to the use of ‘complementary medicine’. However, nomenclature is sometimes confusing. It is not clear how ‘non conventional medicine’ is situated. The work of Hufford (USA) and McClean and Lee-Treweek (UK) illustrate very well important distinctions between CAM and Folk Medicine for example. Menaca continues with medical realities of Ecuadorian migrants and how health and health beliefs are negotiated alongside local beliefs and practices in Spain. Arnaiz revisits obesity and diet from an Aliasian perspective discussing medicalisation and the morality of food and the link between obesity, social class, moral panics and pathology. Bofarull considers the role of anthropologists in the formulation of social and health policy. This addresses Spain’s Dependency Law, provision and informal support (and CAM) amid the backdrop of the current economic crises. Foley et al. consider ‘medical realities’ in palliative care. With the emphasised change from cure to care a number of challenges to medicine are presented. A poignant final chapter reflects on personal and private experiences of cancer. Here Van Dongen unfolds issues of personal integrity and fragile reality (multiple realities) of someone facing death. The chronology and stages of suffering of those afflicted with terminal illness are known in the literature but the reflexive and detailed manner in which Van Dongen approaches her personal experience of cancer (moving back and forth between ‘the village of the well’ to ‘the village of the sick’) is both professional and courageous. The authors present an important range of cross cultural examples and issues. However the chapters and structure of the book are not as balanced as they might be and it reads as a collection of papers rather than a single enterprise. Two red threads run through this book and point up related issues, both relevant, but these are themes that perhaps warrant separate treatment. The first is the identity and role of anthropologists who research within their own cultures. Anthropology at home is wide and varied (and includes many areas not associated with medicine). The second thread involves anthropologists who work within the health/medical context. The editors take on a big task in dealing with these together. There are however few edited texts in this area that relate to the European context and this makes this contribution important

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Identity (music · Ideology · Medical anthropology · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Taste · Variety (cybernetics · Anthropology · Global Security and Public Health · Health and Conflict Studies · History · Law · Psychology · Race, Genetics, and Society

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access