ANTH 238: ETHNOMEDICINE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE SPRING 2020

Instructor: Dr. Melanie A. Medeiros (she/her/hers) Email: [email protected] Class Meeting Times: Wednesdays and Fridays 1-2:15pm in Bailey 201 Office hours (Bailey 106): Thursdays from 12:30-3:30pm. You can walk in for office hours or go to https://mamedeiros.youcanbook.me/ to sign up for a specific appointment time. Teaching Assistant: Rachel Arauz Email: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course takes an anthropological approach to the study of biomedical and complimentary and alternative (CAM) health beliefs and practices in Latin America and the Caribbean. It will focus on cross-cultural notions of the body, health and illness, and healing practices. This course will also examine the effects of globalization on local conceptions of health, illness, and approaches to healing.

Course Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate in-depth knowledge of theories of illness causation and the ethnomedical healing systems of different cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean, through in-class writing assignments, exams, and a research paper. • Students will demonstrate global engagement and the ability the ability to synthesize, connect, and draw conclusions from multiple perspectives to analyze the effects of globalization and modernization on ethnomedical traditions and healthcare seeking behavior, through in-class writing assignments, exams, and a research paper. • Students will demonstrate critical thinking and communication skills, informational and digital literacy, through in-class discussions and a research paper examining a specific aspect of ethnomedicine in Latin America.

Sociomedical Sciences Program Learning Outcomes Satisfied • Concepts and Principles. Students will demonstrate understanding of concepts and theoretical principles central to the sociomedical sciences, including but not limited to: social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and biological determinants of health; intersectionality; structural and social inequality; health disparities, inequality and inequity; cross-cultural conceptions of and practices associated with illness, health, and healing; complimentary and alternative medicine and integrative medicine; cultural and structural competence; and biopower and biopolitics.

• Critical Thinking & Application: Students will demonstrate critical thinking, written and oral communication skills, and be able to read, understand, and synthesize—in writing and speech— published scholarship in allied subfields of sociomedical sciences, including medical anthropology, medical sociology, public health, epidemiology, biology, geography, psychology, and political science.

Anthropology Program Learning Outcomes Satisfied • Students will demonstrate mastery over content pertaining to human cultural and biological diversity using appropriate evidence, conventions, and critical terminology.

• Students will demonstrate competency in their ability to search and evaluate scholarly anthropological research materials. • Students will demonstrate competency in the written presentation of original ideas and supporting materials evaluating anthropological evidence.

Required Textbooks (Available in the Library Course Reserves) • Erickson, Pamela. 2008. Ethnomedicine. Waveland Press, Inc. • Arvigo, Rosita. 1995. Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer. HarperOne. • Seligman, Rebecca. 2014. Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion. • Additional Reading Assignments will be posted to Canvas

ASSIGNMENTS Detailed descriptions of all these assignments are available on Canvas.

Required Reading [Complete before coming to class] The reading assignments are mandatory. You should be prepared to discuss these assignments in class and in your “pop” essays. The completion of all the reading assignments is essential to receiving a good grade in this class.

Attendance and Participation, 5% Your participation grade includes coming to class on time and prepared to discuss the reading assignments, as well as preparation for and performance in in-class activities such as debates, small-group discussions, entire class discussions, presentations, etc. In order to succeed in this course you must participate in class discussions and class activities. Furthermore, if you miss more than 2 classes with unexcused absences, your participation grade in this course will be a zero. For an absence to be excused you must either receive advanced approval from the professor via email OR in the case of illness email the professor and then present a doctor’s note at the next class meeting. Approving an absence as excused is at the professor’s discretion. You do not need to notify the professor if you will be absent for reasons that would not warrant an excused absence—for example, travel home—or in other words, when you will be using one of your allotted unexcused absences.

“Pop” 10 Minute Essays, 15% Periodically throughout the semester you will be asked to write a 10-minute essay on the reading assignments due for that day.

Sastun Book Club Assignment [3/11], 5% Read Sastun and answer the questions listed in the assignment description on Canvas (Canvas/Modules/ Curanderismo: Mayan Shamanism). In class on 3/25 you will be meeting with other students and you will be asked to compile the answers to the questions you answered individually, as well as other questions I distribute in class, and submit your group report to me to be graded at the end of class. You will also be asked to inform me if one of your group members did not read the book or come with answers prepared to the questions posted to Canvas.

Mid-term Exam [3/25, 25% You will complete the exam online. You can do this at home, or campus or use the classroom space. Access it via Canvas/Modules/Midterm Exam. The exam will ask you to respond short answer questions and an 2

essay question. It will be available from 1-2:15pm.

Final Paper [5/6], 25% Papers are due by the start of class on the due date (5/6). I understand that things come up and that sometimes making due dates is difficult, so students may opt to submit a paper late and receive a late penalty, rather than submit a paper that they feel is incomplete. Late papers should be emailed directly to the instructor. Any assignment received later that 5 minutes after the start of class will be marked late. Late assignments will be marked down a partial letter grade for each day late (A will become an A-, A- a B+, etc.).

For your final paper, you will submit a 200-word proposal (due 3/27) stating 1) the topic and potential thesis statement, 2) at least 5 scholarly sources you will be using and citing in your paper. The description and details of this assignment are available on Canvas/Modules/Final Paper. The 2500-word paper must be typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins. Papers must be numbered and stapled together.

Planning Ahead: To prevent themselves from becoming overwhelmed with work at the end of the semester, students are strongly encouraged to look ahead at the coursework for all their courses and to plan out their assignment deadlines, especially their final assignments, Students have until Thursday, April 16th at 5pm to email and formally request a no-penalty extension on their papers (so that they can submit after the due date without a late penalty). The email should explain why an extension is needed and state the date and time you would like to submit your paper to me. I will evaluate your request and let you know whether I am granting you a no-penalty extension. Review of Paper Draft or Outline During Office Hours: Students who complete an outline or draft of their final paper are welcome to review it with me during office hours on or before 4/23. So Thursday, April 23rd is the last day that this option is available. I will not review outlines or drafts sent via email.

Final Exam [5/8], 25% You will complete the exam online. You can do this at home, or campus or use the classroom space. Access it via Canvas/Modules/Final Exam. The exam will ask you to respond short answer questions and an essay question. It will be available from 12-2:30pm.

COURSE GRADING POLICY Attendance & Participation: 5% “Pop” 10 minute essays: 15% Mid-term Exam: 25% Sastun Book Club Assignment: 5% Final Paper: 25% Final Exam: 25% TOTAL: 100 %

Standard Grade Curve:

A 94- Exceptional Meets all the course requirements and demonstrates exceptional 100% work comprehension and application of the material; also demonstrates strong writing, analytical and communication skills. A – 90- Excellent work Meets all the course requirements and demonstrates excellent 93.99% comprehension and application of the material; also demonstrates strong writing, analytical and communication skills B+ 87- Great work Meets all the course requirements and demonstrates very good

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89.99% comprehension and application of the material; also demonstrates adequate writing, analytical and communication skills. B 83- Very good Meets all the course requirements and demonstrates good 86.99% work comprehension and application of the material; also demonstrates adequate writing, analytical and communication skills. B- 80- Good work Meets all the course requirements and demonstrates good 82.99% comprehension of the material. C+ 77- Satisfactory Meets all course requirements and demonstrates comprehension of the 79.99% work material C 73- Fairly Meets all course requirements. 76.99% satisfactory C- 70- Demonstrates Meets some, but not all the course requirements. 72.99% minimal competence D 65- Marginal work Meets few of the course requirements. 69.99% E 0-64.9% Inadequate Does not meet course requirements. work

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism constitutes a violation of academic honesty and will be dealt with very strictly. Plagiarism is the representation of someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own, or the arrangement of someone else’s material(s) as one’s own. Such misrepresentation may be sufficient grounds for a student’s receiving a grade of E for the paper or presentation involved or may result in an E being assigned as the final grade for the course. Any one of the following constitutes evidence of plagiarism: 1. direct quotation without identifying punctuation and citation of source; 2. paraphrase of expression or thought without proper attribution; 3. unacknowledged dependence upon a source in plan, organization, or argument.

You can read the college's academic dishonesty and plagiarism policy on-line at: http://www.geneseo.edu/dean_office/dishonesty.

ACCOMODATIONS SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional, or cognitive disabilities. Accommodations will be made for medical conditions related to pregnancy or parenting. Students should contact Dean Buggie-Hunt in the Office of Disability Services ([email protected] or 585- 245-5112) and their faculty to discuss needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.

EMAIL POLICY I respond to emails Monday through Friday within approximately 24 hours of receiving the email. I respond to emails sent on the weekends on Mondays. Please plan accordingly. Please use proper email etiquette: address the email Dear or Hello Professor/Dr. Medeiros, and sign your name at the end of the email. Include the course number (ANTH 238) in the subject line of the email.

LAPTOP / TABLET / CELL PHONE POLICY In this class, the use of cell phones is prohibited. Phones should not be out on students’ desks or laps. If a student is witnessed using their cell phone or it visible, they will be considered absent for that class. The use of Facebook, You Tube, Vimeo and other media that does not pertain to this class is prohibited as well.

SOCIOMEDICAL SCIENCES PROGRAM

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The Sociomedical Sciences major and minor offer students the opportunity to acquire interdisciplinary knowledge on topics and issues related to health, disease, illness and medicine, as well as analytical and practical skills that will benefit them in post-graduate education and careers in medicine, public health and other health services. Sociomedical Sciences focus on the social determinants of disease and health and examine the correlation between trends in health and its social causes, including social inequality and structural inequity. Visit https://www.geneseo.edu/sociomedical_sciences for more information. Email Dr. Medeiros if you are interested in the minor program.

COURSE OUTLINE

Class 1) Wednesday, 1/22 Course Introduction

Class 2) Friday, 1/24 Brief Overview of Latin American History Read • Encyclopedia Britannica: History of Latin America. Pp. 1-40.

Class 3) Wednesday, 1/29 What is Ethnomedicine? Read • Erickson, P. Ethnomedicine. Pp. 1-5. • Holliday, K.V. 2008. “Folk” or “Traditional” versus “Complimentary” and “Alternative” Medicine: Constructing Latino/a Health and Illness Through Biomedical Labeling. Latino Studies 6: 398-417.

Class 4) Friday 1/31 Ethnophysiology Part 1 Guest Lecture with Brandon West Read • Erickson, P. Ethnomedicine. pg. 46 (starting at "Body Beliefs") to pg. 49 (ending at "The Natural World). • Hinojosa, Servando Z. 2008. “The Mexican American Sobador, Convergent Disease Discourse, and Pain Validation in South Texas. Human Organization 67(2): 194-206.

Class 5) Wednesday, 2/5 Ethnophysiology Part 2 Read • Smith-Oka, Vania. 2012. “An Analysis of Two Indigenous Reproductive Health Illnesses in a Nahua Community in Veracruz, Mexico.” Journal of and Ethnomedicine 8:33-40. • Quinlan, Marsha B., Robert J. Quinlan, Justin M. Nolan. 2002. "Ethnophysiology and Herbal Treatments of Intestinal Worms in Dominica, West Indies.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 80: 75-83.

Class 6) Friday 2/7 Medical Systems and Their Historical Origins Read • Erickson, P. Ethnomedicine. Ch. 1 & 2. pp. 5-33

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Class 7) Wednesday, 2/12 Theories of Disease Causation & Introduction to Illness Categories in Latin America Read • Erickson, P. Ethnomedicine. pg. 35 to pg. 46 (ending at Body Beliefs); pg. 49 (starting at "The Natural World") to pg. 78, Conclusion pp. 94-96.

Class 8) Friday 2/14 Cultural Syndromes Read • Erickson, P. pg. 92 (starting at "The Culture-Bound Syndromes") to pg. 94. • Yarris, Kristin. 2011. The Pain of “Thinking Too Much”: Dolor de Cerebro and the Embodiment of Social Hardship among Nicaraguan Women. Ethos 39(2): 226-244. • Quinlan, Marsha B. 2010. “Ethnomedicine and of Fright, a Carribbean Culture-bound Psychiatric Syndrome.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 6:1-10, and then Conclusions which starts on page 14-15.

Class 9) Wednesday, 2/19 Examining Biomedicine as an Ethnomedical System Read • Finkler, K. 2004. Biomedicine Globalized and Localized: Western Medical Practices in an Outpatients Clinic of a Mexican hospital. Social Sciences and Medicine 59: 2037-2051.

Class 10) Friday, 2/21 Access to Biomedical Health Care Read • Gideon, J, 2007. “Excluded from Health? Informal Workers' Access to Health Care in Chile.” Bulletin of Latin America Research 26(2): 238-255. • Kohut, Meredith. “In Need of a Cure.” National Geographic. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/06/venezuela -health-crisis-spirits- photography/?utm_source=NatGeocom&utm_medium=Email&utm_conte nt=Look_Newsletter_20170709&utm_campaign=Look_Newsletter&utm_r d=16255822455

Class 11) Wednesday, 2/26 Spiritism (Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil) Read • Seligman, Rebecca. 2016. “Ch. 1: Stepping Into the ‘Supernatural World’ of Candomblé.” In Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 1-46. Watch • Video Clips posted to Canvas

Class 12) Friday, 2/28 Spiritism (Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil) Read • Seligman, Rebecca. 2016. “Ch. 3: Healing and Transformation in Narratives of Mediumship. In Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 67-110.

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Class 13) Wednesday, 3/4 Spiritism (Vodun in Haiti) Read • Seligman, Rebecca. 2016. “Ch. 4: Biological Mechanisms and Embodiment in Candomblé Trance and Possession.” In Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro- Brazilian Religion. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 111-135.

Class 14) Friday, 3/6 Spiritism (Santería in Cuba) Read • Seligman, Rebecca. 2016. “Ch. 5: Healing the Embodied Self in Candomble.” In Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 135-159.

Class 15) Wednesday, 3/11 Mayan Shamanism Read • Arvigo, Rosita. 1994. Sastun. pgs. 1-181. Watch • Whose Plants Are They, Anyway? (link on Canvas) Assignment § Detailed Notes on the book for book club in class today

Class 16) Friday, 3/13 Shamans in the Read • Bussmann, R. W. and D. Sharon. 2006. “Traditional Medicinal Plant Use in Northern Peru: Tracking Two Thousand Years of Healing Culture.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2:47. • Armijos et al. 2014. “Traditional Medicine Applied by the Saraguro Yachakkuna: A Preliminary Approach to the Use of Sacred and Psychoactive Plant Species in the Southern Region of Ecuador.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 10:26. • Bussmann, R.W. 2013. The Globalization of Traditional Medicine in Northern Peru: From Shamanism to Molecules. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine: 1-36.

3/14-3/22 SPRING BREAK

Class 17) Wednesday 3/25 Midterm Exam (Classes 2-16) No In-Class Meeting • Access on Canvas/Modules/Midterm Exam. Available from 1-2:15pm. • You do not need to come to the classroom to complete the midterm

Class 18) Friday, 3/27 Writing a Literature Review for your Final Paper Guest Lecture with Brandon West Read • Cummings, N.M. “Literature Review: Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary Andean Healing Practices.” Anthropological Perspectives.

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Class 19) Wednesday, 4/1 Shamans in the Amazon Read • Crocker, W.H. 2017. “Canela Shamanism: Shaman’s Accounts, ‘Journeying,’ and Delimitation of Shamanic Terms.” Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland 15(2): 144-157. • Luzar, Jefferey B. and Jose M.V. Fragoso. 2013. “Shamanism, Christianity and Culture Change in Amazonia.” Human Ecology 41:299- 311. Watch • What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t [Link on Canvas]

Class 20) Friday, 4/3 Ayahuasca & Shamanism Read • Beyer, Stephan V. 2012. “Special Ayahuasca Issue Introduction: Toward a Multidisciplinary Approach to Ayahuasca Studies.” Anthropology of Consciousness 23(1): 1-5. • Fotiou, Evgenia. 2012. “Working with ‘La Medicina’: Elements of Healing in Contemporary Ayahuasca Rituals.” Anthropology of Consciousness 23(1): 5-27. • Doyle, Richard. 2012. “Healing with Plant Intelligence: A Report from Ayahuasca.” Anthropology of Consciousness 23(1): 28-43. • Anderson, Brian T. 2012. “Ayahuasca as Antidepressant? Psychedelics and Styles of Reasoning in Psychiatry. Anthropology of Consciousness 23(1): 44-59.

Class 21) Wednesday, 4/8 Neo-Shamanism Read • Tupper, K.W. 2008. “The Globalization of Ayahuasca: Harm Reduction or Benefit Maximization? “International Journal of Drug Policy 19: 297- 303. • Dobkin de Rios, Marlene. 2006. “Drug Tourism and the Anthropologist’s Responsibility.” Anthropology News October: 20. • Davidov, V. 2010. “Shamans and Shams: The Discursive Effects of Ethnotourism in Ecuador.” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 15(2): 387-410.

Class 22) Friday, 4/10 Medical Pluralism Read • Blaisdell, A. 2014. Losing Fat, Gaining Treatments: The Use of Biomedicine as a Cure for Folk Illnesses in the Andes. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnmedicine 10:52. • Mathez-Stiefel, Sarah-Lan, Ina Vandebroek, Stephan Rist. 2012. “Can Andean Medicine Coexist with Biomedical Healthcare? A Comparison of Two Rural Communities in Peru and . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 8:26. • Calvet-Mir, L., V. Reyes-Garcia, S. Tanner. 2008. ”Is There a Divide Between Local Medicinal Knowledge and Western Medicine? A Case Study Among Native Amazonians in Bolivia. Journal of Ethnobiology and

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Ethnomedicine 4:18.

Class 23) Wednesday, 4/15 “Intercultural” Medicine Read • Torri, M.C. 2012. “Intercultural Health Practices: Towards and Equal Recognition Between Indigenous Medicine and Biomedicine? A Case Study from Chile.” Health Care Anal 20:31-49. • Migone, Javier et al. 2007. “Best Practices in Intercultural Health: Five Cases in Latin America.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3:31. • Monteban, Madalena, Valera Yucra Velasquez, Benedicta Yucra Velasquez. 2018. “Comparing Indigenous and Public Health Infant Feeding Recommendations in Peru: Opportunities for Optimizing Intercultural Health Policies.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 14:69. • Hitziger, Martin. 2017. “Patient-centered Boundary Mechnisms to Foster Intercultural Partnerships in Health Care: A Case Study in Guatemala.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 13:44.

Class 24) Friday 4/17 CAM & the Ills of Modernity

Read • Wayland, Coral. 2004. “The Failure of Pharmaceuticals and the Power of Plants: Medicinal Discourse as a Critique of Modernity in the Amazon.” Social Science & Medicine 58: 2409-2419. • Hilgert, Norma I. and Guillermo E. Gil. 2007. "Reproductive Medicine in Northwast Argentina: Traditional Institutional Systems.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnmedicine 3:19. • Rozemberg, Brani and Lenore Maderson. 1998. “Nerves” and Tranquilizer Use in Rural Brazil. International Journal of Health Services 28(1): 165– 181.

4/22 GREAT DAY

Class 25) Friday, 4/24 The Role of CAM in Global Health Read • Benoit, C. 2007. “The Politics of Vodou: AIDS, Access to Health Care and the Use of Culture in Haiti.” Anthropology in Action 14(3): 59-69. • Da Silva, et al. 2000. “Odo-Ya Project: HIV/AIDS Prevention in the Context of Afro-Brazilian Religion.” Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, 5: sup1: 119-122.

Class 26) Wednesday, 4/29 TBD Read

Class 27) Friday, 5/1 Healing Lessons of Ethnomedicine

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Final Exam Review Read • Erickson, P. Ethnomedicine. Pp. 99-108.

Class 28) Wednesday, 5/6 Final Paper Due • Upload to Canvas

Class 29) Friday, 5/8 Final Exam (Classes 19-28)

• Access on Canvas/Modules/Final Exam. Available from 12-2:30pm.

NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change. Reading, film and written assignments may be removed or added when the instructor believes it necessary for the course.

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