You will sign up for presentations on a research topic of your choice in groups of 4 people. Once you form your groups, it is important to do introductions and self-assessments of your own strengths, weaknesses, comfort zones, and what you want to learn. Discuss these when deciding how to divide up work. Some people may be more comfortable talking in front of others, but that doesn’t mean they should do all of the presentation. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is part of what education is about. As an example, one person told their group that they often got very excited about topics, but then sometimes came across as bossy – that wasn’t her intention. They suggested that members could say “Hey, you’re getting excited and starting to sound bossy” instead of quietly getting angry and irritated and talking about the person behind their back. This is an opportunity to learn how you work in groups, and to learn how to work more effectively in groups.
Presentations will take place during the last week of the course. Topics can build on course readings or be new topics. Since it is impossible to cover all topics of interest and relevance to medical anthropology in a single course, this assignment gives you the opportunity to delve into a topic of interest in more depth, and to share your findings with your classmates.
When planning your presentation, keep in mind the 3 P’s:
· Problem – answerable problem or question
· People or place – ethnographic/historical context or population
· Perspective – your theoretical orientation
Think about defining your terms. For example if your research problem is: “To what extent is poverty really the main cause of poor health?” you need to define what you mean by poverty and (poor) health. If you choose to research ‘gun violence in the US’ you need to consider the time frame, whether you will examine violence against others, or also include suicide, etc. You can use other people’s definitions – but you need to cite them.
Think about the level(s) of analysis that you are interested in. Problems can be understood and studied from various levels ranging from: macrolevel of political economy, national level of political and class structure, institutional level of health care system, community level of popular and folk beliefs and actions, to the microlevels of experience, behavior and meaning, human physiology and genetics. Problems can be examined from biological and cultural perspectives, and also proximate (physiological) and ultimate (evolutionary) perspectives.
Topics could include an analysis of: further research on questions you had about any of the readings, readings you disagreed with and would like to challenge, hypotheses proposed in our readings, etc. Some possible topics include: multiculturalism in medicine, anthropological bases for health policy; issues surrounding fertility/reproduction/breastfeeding; articles in the UAMA Reader such as: structural violence, biological variation, cultural factors contributing to current epidemics (e.g., prescription pain killers, etc.). You could also start with analysis of healing rituals you have observed or participated in, documentary films (e.g., The Medicated Child or The Business of Being Born or The Interrupters, and people like Ameena Matthews) or TV shows that portray some aspect of medicine or healing, and show brief clips in your presentation. Be creative!
Depending on class enrollment, each group will do a 15 min presentation on their research project, followed by a 10 min question and answer session and discussion. If using slides, you should have no more than 15 slides.
This assignment requires citation of a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed academic references – which should be included in a bibliography, as well as on appropriate slides (if applicable).