Tag: medical anthropology
Medical anthropology
Older Adults and the Built Environment
Mini-thesis from 2021, now finally an actual published journal article. This narrative review was written in my final semester at the Australian National University’s Master of Culture, Health and Medicine degree program. The draft was revised several times in preparation for publication. Very grateful! View the article here: https://doi.org/10.47895/amp.v58i20.8512Or here: https://actamedicaphilippina.upm.edu.ph/index.php/acta/article/view/8512This is part of a […]
Cross-cultural Healing and Ancestral Practices Panel at the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AAPMR) annual assembly
Cross-cultural healing and ancestral practices panel: We talked about bringing biomedicine + “other medicine” together = integrative medicine. 1 hr and 15 mins was not enough, people stayed for more discussion after we formally ended. Wow! Many thanks to colleagues on the panel: Drs. Glendaliz Bosques, Irene Estores, Deborah Bernal, Zainab Al Lawati, and Monica […]
World Health Organization and Self-Care
From the World Health Organization (https://who.int/health-topics/self-care) Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker. WHO recommends self-care interventions for every country and economic setting, as a critical path to reach universal health […]
13. Gender as Performance
May 28, 2022 Today’s lesson: gender as performance, a concept popularized by American philosopher Judith Butler. It is the idea that gender is ”something inscribed in daily practices, learned and performed based on cultural norms of femininity and masculinity”. Examples: fake boobs (foobs) to insert into the mastectomy bra, a lovely eyebrow pencil to experiment […]
9. Exercising my Biological Citizenship
May 12, 2022 Update from me and breast cancer mascot Doreen, six weeks post-surgery. Thank you everyone for continued prayers and support. Yesterday I felt I was finally physically well enough to restart exercising using mom’s rebounder trampoline – tacking on aerobic exercises to the upper body stretching and strengthening post-mastectomy rehabilitation program. Adding the […]
Of X-rays and Female Orthopods
Nerdy medical anthropology commentary alert: gender, politics, economics, culture and health. I think this would be a good instructional article for an introductory course. Bookmarking here. Orthopedic surgeons use lead aprons during surgery, when X-rays (radiation from fluoroscopy machines) are needed. The lead aprons are “one size fits all”, which really means “large” and “one […]
I’ve graduated… now what? Reflections on the two-year (expensive) sabbatical from clinical medicine.
I have been meaning to write this piece for a while but life got in the way. We’ll start with the celebration from December 20, 2021: Somehow the story of my life centers around studying things that are not easily explained, like physiatry and performing arts medicine (in contrast, everyone pretty much knows what a […]
Critique: Pandemic! A Winter Intensive.
Yesterday was the last day of our Winter Intensive (a whole semester’s worth of material crammed into two weeks) called Beyond Chaos – Critique: PANDEMIC! According to the course description from convenors Prof. Desmond Manderson and Dr. Nick Cheesman, it is “not about the Coronavirus pandemic itself. It is, rather, a response to it. The […]
Reflections on Reading the Literature: A Challenge in Straddling the “Soft” and “Hard” Sciences
Last Monday (February 22, 2021) was the first day of school, for the first semester of the academic year – marking the beginning of the second half of this “two year expensive sabbatical from clinical medicine”. Yes, this one. Structurally, a lot of the subjects I am enrolled in are centered on reading journal articles […]
Racism Issues and COVID-19
I read this article today about pulse oximeters, and I thought of several articles I read previously in September. Pulse oximeters are borne of racist bias in technology. I was today years old when I found out. And it makes sense. They work by sensing the color of blood flowing under the skin, based on […]
