Deck 7: Health, Illness, and Healing

Question 1

Ethnomedicine refers to __________.

A)the study of cross-cultural health systems
B)the globalization of Western biomedicine
C)the universal use of medicines to treat illness
D)medical systems that focus on the body's internal organs
E)ways of curing disease rather than preventing it

Answer 1

the study of cross-cultural health systems

Question 2

People in northern Thailand hung wooden penises on their houses in order to __________.

A)prevent a malaria epidemic
B)counteract a culture-specific syndrome which involves male impotence
C)prevent an attack of ghosts who kill men
D)promote fertility in the women of the region
E)advertise a campaign to reduce HIV/AIDS in the area

Answer 2

prevent an attack of ghosts who kill men

Question 3

Among the Tsimané people of Bolivia, the health status of children is strongly related to __________.

A)their gender: boys are healthier than girls
B)whether or not the child was breastfed
C)whether or not the mother received formal education
D)whether or not the mother works outside the home
E)the mother's traditional knowledge of healing plants

Answer 3

the mother's traditional knowledge of healing plants

Question 4

__________ is a culture-specific syndrome in Spain and Portugal and common among Latino people in the United States; it is associated with a stressful incident or situation.

A)Hikikimori
B)Susto
C)Kuru
D)Koro
E)Suffering from water

Question 5

An example of a traditional practice to prevent health problems is __________.

A)tying ritually protective strings around parts of the body
B)hanging wooden phalluses on one's house to trick the widow ghosts
C)feeding pregnant women what they want
D)all of the above
E)none of the above: non-biomedical cultures do not focus on prevention at all

Question 6

According to critical medical anthropology, a prominent feature of Western medical school training is __________.

A)sleep deprivation
B)patient objectification
C)tunnel vision of knowledge
D)dehumanization
E)all of the above

Question 7

An increasingly common culture-specific syndrome among Japanese male adolescents is __________.

A)koro
B)kuru
C)kula
D)hikikomuri
E)susto

Question 8

A prominent value in Japan about the body, called gotai, refers to __________.

A)the importance of keeping the body whole even after death
B)the dominance of the mind over the body
C)an emphasis on blood as the key element of bodily health
D)the idea that men and women have distinctly different organ systems and their diseases have to be treated differently
E)the idea that a person's liver is the key organ of the body

Question 9

Medicinal chewing of coca leaves is __________.

A)popularly used to stop babies from crying
B)commonly used by people in the Himalayas for fighting the cold
C)important in Andean rituals and health practices
D)more common among women than men
E)all of the above

Question 10

Treating the effects of poverty on health with pills is referred to as __________.

A)cultural constructionism
B)medicalization
C)biological determinism
D)ethnomedicine
E)medical pluralism

Question 11

In northern Thailand, many people believe that sudden death of men is caused by __________.

A)koro
B)nagging of their wives
C)stress related to poverty
D)overwork
E)attack of widow ghosts

Question 12

An example of the interpretivist approach in medical anthropology is __________.

A)showing how a song sung by a shaman might help a woman through a difficult birth
B)analysis of the role of global political interests in causing child malnutrition
C)studying how hookworm is related to wet rice cultivation in Asia
D)assessment of the impact of disease during colonial contact
E)revealing the role poverty plays in disease.

Question 13

The Ju/wasi of the Kalahari Desert have a healing system that is __________.

A)dominated by women specialists
B)humoral-based
C)community-based
D)focused on the shaman-client relationship
E)dependent on sacrifice to the supernaturals

Question 14

__________ is the poorest country in South America, although it is rich in natural resources.

A)Argentina
B)Venezuela
C)Chile
D)Bolivia
E)Brazil

Question 15

__________ is a disease contracted by working in contaminated water.

A)Hookworm
B)Malaria
C)Tuberculosis
D)Measles
E)Diabetes

Question 16

The ecological/epidemiological approach in medical anthropology involves __________.

A)attention to how certain diseases function to control population growth
B)study of the interaction between politics, religion, and health
C)a major focus on how genetics influences death and disease
D)close attention to the symbols which different use to represent natural causes of death
E)study of how the natural environment interacts with culture to cause disease

Question 17

Retired Husband Syndrome and awas are examples of __________.

A)diseases of contact
B)eating disorders
C)culture-specific syndromes
D)globalized diseases
E)diseases of development

Question 18

Humoral healing systems are based on __________.

A)the use of joking and telling funny stories to the patient.
B)the frequent holding of community dances to restore public harmony.
C)the use of prayer as the crucial path to healing.
D)a philosophy that seeks balance among various bodily fluids and forces.
E)a combination of Western biomedicine and the use of local herbs and minerals.

Question 19

XMDRTB is an example of __________.

A)a new strain of an infectious disease
B)a culture-specific syndrome
C)medical pluralism
D)the spread of a disease from Asia to the West through trade
E)a disease that affects the rich more than the poor

Question 20

The role of European diseases in the depopulation of the "New World" was __________.

A)relatively unimportant compared to other causes
B)significant
C)far less important than the effect of "New World" diseases on the colonizers
D)of unknown dimensions since we have absolutely no data
E)none of the above: the "New World" was already experiencing substantial population decline before the arrival of the Europeans

Question 21

A prominent value in Japan is gotai, or the belief that a person's body should never be cut into.

Question 22

Medical anthropologists study healing practices only in non-Western cultures.

Question 23

Ethno-etiology refers to culture-specific explanations for health problems and suffering.

Question 24

A study of the Tsimané people in Bolivia concluded that local people's access to plant resources must be protected.

Question 25

Some forms of alternative healing include the use of radon.

Question 26

The term "medical pluralism" refers to the __________.

A)presence of many illnesses in one community
B)growing tendency for Western medical students to overspecialize
C)practice, in industrial countries, of a patient consulting several physicians before deciding what to do
D)presence of multiple health systems within a society
E)situation when a doctor suggests several forms of treatment to a patient

Question 27

In rural Nepal, the increasing role of tourism in the local economy has led to a complete replacement of traditional healing practices with Western biomedicine.

Question 28

Surgery, or treating an illness through cutting into the body, is a universally valued approach to healing in all cultures.

Question 29

According to critical medical anthropologists, one significant feature of the training of Western biomedical healers is called cognitive retrogression.

Question 30

In the United States, all states allocate reservations to so-called "recognized tribes."

Question 31

The area within medical anthropology that seeks to make its knowledge useful to medical practitioners working in health care delivery is __________.

A)applied medical anthropology
B)critical medical anthropology
C)ethnomedicine
D)medicalization
E)symbolic/interpretivist anthropology

Question 32

World famous chef Jamie Oliver spent time in a town in West Virginia in order to help improve people's food habits.

Question 33

An increasing prevalence of the disease __________ is attributed to the construction of high dams and irrigation in many parts of the world.

A)arthritis
B)measles
C)high blood pressure
D)schistosomiasis
E)influenza

Question 34

One factor that may explain the success of placebos is the act of the prescription itself.

Question 35

Ethnographic research in northeastern Brazil reveals that people there consider caesarian delivery to be "primitive."

Question 36

Historical trauma as a result of European colonialism is closely associated with substance abuse among indigenous peoples of North America.

Question 37

The Ju/wasi's traditional healing system is a form of community healing.

Question 38

The phrase "diseases of development" refers to health problems __________.

A)related to adolescence as a stressful phase of human development
B)caused by economic development activities such as dam construction
C)that international aid agencies seek to prevent or alleviate
D)of people who work overseas for international development agencies
E)found mainly in urban areas

Question 39

The countries of Central America are heavily influenced by the United States' interests in hemispheric hegemony.

Question 40

Forced migration that causes mental and physical stress is an example of structural suffering.

Question 41

In the country of __________, as a whole, nearly one-third of the population has inadequate access to water.

Question 42

Charms, spells, sacred strings and hanging up wooden phalluses against widow ghosts are examples of __________ .

Question 43

Robert Trotter's work in discovering the role of lead poisoning in some traditional medicines used by Mexican Americans is an example of critical medical anthropology.

Question 44

The "retired husband syndrome" affects women in the country of __________.

Question 45

A country in which there is widespread negative feelings about surgery, including transplant surgery, due to beliefs that the body should remain whole is __________.

Question 46

Smallpox, typhus fever, and measles were a prominent cause of death of __________during early contact with European colonizers.

Question 47

When medical anthropologists consider how the natural and social environments interact to cause disease, they are following the __________ approach.

Question 48

The use of anthropological research to help improve health care delivery is __________.

Question 49

Heavy reliance on the use of technology in diagnosis and treatment is a characteristic of the __________ healing system.

Question 50

Health problems caused by powerful forces such as poverty, war, famine, and forced migration are referred to as __________.

Question 51

Most Sherpas live in the country of __________.

Question 52

Discuss the disease/illness dichotomy and provide an examples of a disease and an illness.

Question 53

A healing system that concentrates on maintaining balance in the body among various substances and factors judged to be "heating" or "cooling" is called a __________ system.

Question 54

Surveys conducted by medical anthropologists in several developing countries reveal that most parents have a clear and thorough understanding of vaccines and eagerly seek inoculations for their children.

Question 55

Schistosomiasis, obesity, and childhood obesity are examples of a disease of __________.

Question 56

The case of Mary, the Samoan girl with diabetes, illustrates the non-fit of two different cultures' explanatory models for illness.

Question 57

A major category of affliction among the Subanun people of the Philippines is __________.

Question 58

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are examples of a __________syndrome among White middle-class adolescent girls in the United States.

Question 59

Explain the concept of a culture-specific syndrome and discuss one example of a culture-specific syndrome including attention to symptoms, social distribution, and possible cause

Question 60

Selective pluralism characterizes the contemporary healing situation of the __________ people of Nepal.

Question 61

Define phytotherapy and discuss its role among the Tsimané people of Bolivia.

Question 62

What are the primary criteria for becoming a healer? Compare what you know about shamans/shamankas with Western biomedical healers in terms of the criteria.

Question 63

Describe two differences between shamanic healers and Western biomedical healers.

Question 64

What is the goal of applied medical anthropology and what is one example of it?

Question 65

To what does the term medicalization refer and provide an example of it.

Question 66

Describe the ecological/epidemiological approach to understanding health systems. Why are settled populations more likely to have certain health problems, like infectious diseases, than mobile populations?

Question 67

What is community healing and how does it work?

Question 68

Define and give an example of the interpretivist approach in medical anthropology.

Question 69

How is globalization changing health, illness, and healing? Provide a specific cultural example.

Question 70

What is structural suffering, and what is an ethnographic example of it?

Question 71

What is humoral healing and describe one ethnographic example of it.

Question 72

What is a "disease of development?" Provide an example and explain its specific cause.

Question 73

What are some of the major issues facing the Sherpa of Nepal today?