Medical Anthropology:

• An Anthropology of Structural Violence by Paul Farmer
• Medical Anthropology: An Introduction to the Fields

Defines medical anthropology in relation to the other domains of anthropology. Establishes that medical anthropology utilizes anthropological techniques and frameworks of analysis in relation to medicine, health and healing. Notes that "health" and "culture" are interlinked concepts & defines sickness, illness and disease.

• Medical Anthropology & The Problem of Belief by Byron J. Good

Byron J. Good analyzes how the dichotomy versus "belief" and "knowledge" are present when approaching medical knowledge versus cultural approaches towards health and healing. The concept of medical knowledge holding both empirical and epistemological validity over cultural "beliefs" towards health is examined. The role belief played in the development of medicine in the Western tradition is also explored.

• On Sitting & Doing: Ethnography as Action in global health by Stacy Leigh Pigg

Explores global health, progressivism, and emphasis on action versus the methodological conflicts with ethnography.Attempts to highlight the importance of ethnography as a process in ultimately serving the goals of global health.

• Confronting ‘culture’ in medicine’s ‘culture of no culture’ by Janelle S. Taylor

Does medicine have a culture? Analyzes mind-body dualism and empiricism as a foundational culture upon which medicine is based upon.

• Anthropology and the Abnormal by Ruth Benedict.

Excerpt from notable American anthropologist Ruth Benedicts article in General Psychology. Discusses the cultural & ethical relativism of the concept of "normalcy" in relation to various isolated tribal customs. States that normality is in part, culturally defined.

• HOW SCIENCE HAS CONSTRUCTED A ROMANCE BASED ON STEREOTYPICAL MALE-FEMALE ROLES by Emily Martin.

An analysis of culture & medicine, this time interlinked with gender roles and the human gametes. How biological processes become social processes and the real world implications of such narratives. Medicine as a system plays an important role in upholding cultural beliefs; medical systems and medical knowledge have an underlying cultural foundation, incorporating symbolism, narratives, and pre-existent stereotypes. Sex-based stereotyping is imbued within the so-called scientific description of bodily functions.