ANTH 435 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE | 2026 UPDATE | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTION
Definition of Medical Anthropology - (ANSWER)Study of the following from an anthropological
perspective:
- human health and disease
- health-related behavior
- healing and health care
What are some key issues related to the debate around using the term medical anthropology instead of
an alternative term like health anthropology? - (ANSWER)- Can be less inclusive, leaving out allied health
professions
- Suggests biomedicine is the standard
- Ties a focus on pathology
- Has to be viewed in a holistic perspective
Four factors that form the biosocial processes of disease - (ANSWER)- Human biology
- Systems of belief
- Structures of social relationship
- Environmental conditions
The Straits Expedition - (ANSWER)- Early anthropological research (1898) amongst Indigenous
Austrailian people
- Collected information on traditional health beliefs and practices
- Earliest research to include aspects of health
- Found internal coherent structures of cultural beliefs that were related to healing
W.H.R Rivers - (ANSWER)- Father of medical anthropology
- published a book named Medicine, magic and religion
- His work incorporated health related issues into medical anthropology
- The study of cross-cultural perspectives in healing systems became prevalent
, ANTH 435 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE | 2026 UPDATE | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTION
- recognition that non-western ethnomedicine traditions had a role of magic and supernatural beings in
the causing and curing of illness
- while biomedicine uses the natural laws and scientific principles to understand the cause and cures of
illness
Describe the relationship between the history of the discipline and the applied vs. academic debate -
(ANSWER)Argument against applied anthropology: the quality of the research can be perceived as
superficial, impressionistic, less rigorous, non-theoretical, and those that practice it are a little more
than technicians
Argument against academic anthropology: theories that are used and developed can sometimes seem
abstract, obstructive, and sometimes irrelevant for those that are seeking practical solutions to specific
health problems
-tensions between these two perspectives can be seen played out in the history of the birth of the sub-
discipline
- started with the society for applied anthropology, then there was a push to get the society for medical
anthropology affiliated with the more academic professional association, the American anthropological
association
academic anthropology - (ANSWER)- Takes place in acadamia
- focuses more on theory development
definition of disease - (ANSWER)- diagnosis of sickness
- professional healing
- using signs and symptoms
definition of illness - (ANSWER)patient's experience of sickness
definition of health - (ANSWER)absence of disease and individual not feeling ill
COMPLETE SOLUTION
Definition of Medical Anthropology - (ANSWER)Study of the following from an anthropological
perspective:
- human health and disease
- health-related behavior
- healing and health care
What are some key issues related to the debate around using the term medical anthropology instead of
an alternative term like health anthropology? - (ANSWER)- Can be less inclusive, leaving out allied health
professions
- Suggests biomedicine is the standard
- Ties a focus on pathology
- Has to be viewed in a holistic perspective
Four factors that form the biosocial processes of disease - (ANSWER)- Human biology
- Systems of belief
- Structures of social relationship
- Environmental conditions
The Straits Expedition - (ANSWER)- Early anthropological research (1898) amongst Indigenous
Austrailian people
- Collected information on traditional health beliefs and practices
- Earliest research to include aspects of health
- Found internal coherent structures of cultural beliefs that were related to healing
W.H.R Rivers - (ANSWER)- Father of medical anthropology
- published a book named Medicine, magic and religion
- His work incorporated health related issues into medical anthropology
- The study of cross-cultural perspectives in healing systems became prevalent
, ANTH 435 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE | 2026 UPDATE | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTION
- recognition that non-western ethnomedicine traditions had a role of magic and supernatural beings in
the causing and curing of illness
- while biomedicine uses the natural laws and scientific principles to understand the cause and cures of
illness
Describe the relationship between the history of the discipline and the applied vs. academic debate -
(ANSWER)Argument against applied anthropology: the quality of the research can be perceived as
superficial, impressionistic, less rigorous, non-theoretical, and those that practice it are a little more
than technicians
Argument against academic anthropology: theories that are used and developed can sometimes seem
abstract, obstructive, and sometimes irrelevant for those that are seeking practical solutions to specific
health problems
-tensions between these two perspectives can be seen played out in the history of the birth of the sub-
discipline
- started with the society for applied anthropology, then there was a push to get the society for medical
anthropology affiliated with the more academic professional association, the American anthropological
association
academic anthropology - (ANSWER)- Takes place in acadamia
- focuses more on theory development
definition of disease - (ANSWER)- diagnosis of sickness
- professional healing
- using signs and symptoms
definition of illness - (ANSWER)patient's experience of sickness
definition of health - (ANSWER)absence of disease and individual not feeling ill
