Disability and Culture

3 units

This course will examine how anthropological theory and methods contribute to the understanding of disability and adaptation to chronic health conditions. Areas to be covered will include: belief and ethnomedical systems, social construction of illness and disability, ethnicity and health care, cultural influences on everyday competence, decision-making and symptom management, family caregiving, cultural influences on patterns of help-seeking, stigma and coping with chronic illness, and the disability rights movement.