Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective

Ann McElroy, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emerita of Anthropology, directed applied medical anthropology graduate concentrations at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, from 1985 to 2013. She has done research in Nunavut, Canada, for the past forty-seven years and is the author of Nunavut Generations: Change and Continuity in Baffin Island Inuit Communities (Waveland Press, 2008). Other current research interests include culture and disability, traumatic grief, and historical trauma in indigenous societies.Patricia K. Townsend, Ph.D., is Research Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo. Her most recent book is Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies (Waveland Press, Second Edition, 2009). She has done fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Peru, and at Superfund sites in the United States. After several years of college teaching, she has spent much of her career applying anthropology to non-governmental organizations, including church and refugee agencies. Her current writing projects relate her Papua New Guinea research to broader issues of human and environmental health.

About the Authors and Contributors Preface Chapter One: The Ecology Of Health And Disease Environment, Culture, and Health Profile: Arctic Adaptations by Ann McElroy A Working Model of Ecology and Health Recommended Readings Chapter Two: Research Methods In Health Problems Anthropological Approaches to the Use of Medicinal Plants Bio-Environmental Data Profile: Cannibal Mourners by Patricia K. Townsend Clinical Data Epidemiological Data Social and Cultural Data Recommended Readings Chapter Three: Human Biocultural Diversity And Health Evolution and Biological Diversity Human Immune Systems and Defense against Disease Mutation, Genetic Change, and Disease Resistance Profile: Malaria And African Agriculture by Ann McElroy Evolution and Medicine Skin Color and Adaptation Recommended Readings Chapter Four: The Prehistory Of Disease Paleopathology: The Study of Disease in Prehistory Nutrition and the Transition to Agriculture Profile: Dry Bones: Health in Southwestern Prehistory by Patricia K. Townsend Beyond the Skeleton: Icemen and Mummies Daily Life in the Past: Clues from the Skeleton Violence and Inequality The Emergence of Cities Forensic anthropology: contemporary applications Recommended Readings Chapter Five: Emerging Diseases Of The 21st Century The Ecology of Disease in the Anthropocene Profile: The Medical Ecology of Cholera in Ecuador by Linda Whiteford Emerging Diseases in Aging Populations Recommended Readings Chapter Six: Changing Population and Environmental Hazards The Study of Population Profile: Stress, Alcohol, and Demographic Change in Northern Siberia by John P. Ziker Environmental Trauma in Industrial Societies Recommended Readings Chapter Seven: Human Reproduction as a Biocultural Process Evolutionary and Ecological Influences on Reproduction Pregnancy Profile: Three Birth Stories by Care Providers in Pregnancy and Birth Birth Alternatives Maternal Mortality Towards an Ecology of Birth Recommended Readings Chapter Eight: The Ecology of Nutrition