FAQs

Aren't health-care systems unique to Western societies?
No, health-care systems are a cultural universal. All societies have a set of beliefs, customs, and specialists concerned with ensuring health, preventing, and curing illness. In Western societies, health-care systems are centered around hospitals, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. However, just because a society lacks a Western trained physician, it doesn't mean that they lack a way of dealing with illness. In the textbook, Kottak argues that after forager, the world's oldest profession is that of curer. All societies have someone, part- or full-time, who is responsible for treating illness in the community. In all societies, curers pass through a culturally defined process of selection and training, how they are selected and trained varies between cultures.

Isn't Western medicine better than non-Western medicine?
Answering questions like this is always difficult because when comparing things you need to be very explicit regarding what you are comparing. In many ways Western medicine is better than non-Western medicine, however, it is not better in every way. Modern medications, surgical procedures, and treatments are safer and more effective than those of traditional societies. However, it is important to point out some of the problems of Western medicine. For example, some of the questionable features of Western medicine include an overprescription of tranquilizers and drugs, lots of unnecessary surgery, and the impersonality and inequality of the patient-doctor relationship. More importantly, traditional medicine does not distinguish between biological and psychological causation. Traditional curers focus on the combination of physical, emotional, and social causes that can lead to poor health. As a result, traditional curers often succeed with health problems that Western medicine classifies as psychosomatic not a disease, therefore not an illness and dismisses as not requiring treatment. Non-Western medicine shows us that patients can be treated effectively as whole beings, using a combination of methods that prove beneficial.

Why would somebody major in anthropology who wasn't planning on pursuing a career in it?
College is not a trade school where you go to learn a specific expertise. Rather, college is a place to become a critical thinker and develop your skills as a creative problem solver. Anthropology is a cross-cultural discipline in which you can develop and hone those skills. Anthropology's breadth will not only expose you to different cultural groups from all over the world, it also requires you to draw on many of the other disciplines like history, political science, economics, religious studies, psychology, and sociology. As a result, anthropology is an excellent major for those students who want to explore, within the framework of understanding human diversity. Many people major in anthropology then go on to pursue careers in unrelated fields. For example, singer-songwriter Tacy Chapman majored in anthropology. Also, Michael Crichton, the author or Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Rising Sun majored in anthropology as an undergraduate.