ANTH 238: ETHNOMEDICINE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 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 3 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.