Each chapter concludes with "Suggested Readings" and "Notes." 1. What's So Cultural about Disease? Culture in Medicine. Development of Medical Anthropology. Medical Anthropology Today. Summary: Placing Medical Anthropology among the Social Sciences of Medicine. 2. Anthropological Questions and Methods in the Study of Sickness and Healing.
Studying Shamans in Peru. Studying Medicine in the United States. Summary: The Anthropological Vision. 3. Recognizing Biological, Social, and Cultural Interconnections: Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives on a Cholera Epidemic. Thinking about Epidemics. History and Biology of Cholera. Epidemiological Accounts of Peru's Cholera Epidemic.
Evolution and the Ecological Framework. Cholera and the Evolutionary Framework. Medical Anthropology Embraces the Ecological/Evolutionary Model. 4. Expanding the Vision of Medical Anthropology: Critical and Interpretive Views of the Cholera Epidemic. The Political-Economy of Cholera. Political-Economic versus Ecological/Evolutionary Perspectives. Interpretive View of Cholera.
Taking a Broader, Inclusive Perspective. 5. Healers and the Healing Professions. Healing Roles: Organizing the Diversity. Authority of Healers. Authority in the Folk Health Sector: The Position of Peruvian Curanderos. Authority in the Professional Health Care Sector: The Case of Biomedicine. Challenges to Biomedical Authority.
Authority of Biomedicine in Non-Western Countries. Conclusion. 6. Applying Medical Anthropology. Medical Anthropology in International Development: A Brief History. Work of Applied Medical Anthropologists in International Contexts. Applying Medical Anthropology in the United States. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Applied Medical Anthropology under Attack.
Personal Reflections. Conclusion. 7. Anthropology and Medical Ethics. Medical Ethics: A Comparative Framework. Medical Ethics beyond Biomedicine. Development of Bioethics in the United States. Social Sciences and Bioethics.
Social Science: Out of the Closet. 8. A Look Back and a Glance Ahead. Advantages of Medical Anthropology. Thinking Anthropologically about HIV/AIDS. Directions for Future Work in Medical Anthropology. Conclusion. Glossary.
References.