Humanities > Anthropology > Medicine, Religion and Politics in Africa and the

Medicine, Religion and Politics in Africa and the posted by duggu on 12/6/2007

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

Course Highlights

This course features extensive lecture notes.

Course Description

This course provides an exploration of colonial and postcolonial clashes between theories of healing and embodiment in the African world and those of western bio-medicine. It examines how Afro-Atlantic religious traditions have challenged western conceptions of illness, healing, and the body and have also offered alternative notions of morality, rationality, kinship, gender, and sexuality. It also analyzes whether contemporary western bio-medical interventions reinforce colonial or imperial power in the effort to promote global health in Africa and the African diaspora.

Syllabus

Course Description

Since the colonial period, the contact between Africans and Europeans has challenged the philosophies, moralities, and conceptions of the body, illness, religion, and healing in each context. This course will evaluate how spiritual philosophies and religious practices within the traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora (the Afro-Atlantic) offer moral frames for experience that challenge and critique western models of embodiment. The course will analyze the ideas of race, gender, sex, and rationality that have permeated bio-medical and psychological conceptions of the mind and body. We will also explore some of the ways in which these understandings have also shaped western bio-medical notions of morality and deviance. We will analyze how the constructions of race, gender, and sexuality continue to be problematic in contemporary medical diagnosis, treatment, and medical research efforts in ways that require further analysis. While acknowledging its contributions to public health, we will debate the historical role of cosmopolitan medicine as an instrument of colonial power, state dominance, or social control within the Afro-Atlantic through the study of a variety of ethnographic and contemporary clinical contexts.

Course Structure and Requirements

The course will be run primarily as a seminar, with twenty minutes of lecture to introduce each new section, followed by discussion of each subject or ethnographic context under review. Students must come to class prepared, as class attendance and participation in discussion contribute a significant amount toward the final grade. In addition to this, each student will give one ten-minute presentation of one of the week's readings during the course of the semester. Written assignments include one 5-7 page paper, and one 8-10 page paper.

Grading

Grading
ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Class Attendance and Participation in Discussion	30%
A Ten-minute Presentation	10%
5-7 Page Paper Written Assignment	25%
8-10 Page Paper Written Assignment	35%

Calendar

Course calendar.
Lec #	TOPICS	KEY dATES
Part One: The Colonial Imaginary and Disciplinary Practices
1-4	Section One: Biopolitics, the Fetish, and the Colonial Imaginary Lecture 1: Course Overview and Introduction
5-6	Section Two: Ecstasis and the Shock of Culture Contact
7-8	Section Three: Historical Ideologies of Sexuality, Race, and Madness
Part Two: Colonial Contexts of Medicine, Religion, and Politics
9-10	Section Four: Colonial Medicine in South Africa
11-13	Section Five: Race, Gender, Colonial Medicine, and the Construction of Disease	Paper 1 due (Lecture 13)
Part Three: Anthropological (Re)Constructions of "African" Religion, Healing, and Embodiment
14-16	Section Six: Medical Pluralism in the Former Zaire
17-19	Section Seven: Culture, Morality, and the Senses in Ghana
20	Section Eight: Sensory Ethnography in Niger
Part Four: Cosmopolitan Medicine, Race, Gender, and Inequalities
21-22	Section Nine: Religion, Medicine, and the Medical Pluralism in Haiti
23-24	Section Ten: Contemporary Psychiatry: Race, Gender, and the Mind
25-26	Section Eleven: Fictions of Race, Gender, and Illness	Final papers due (Lecture 26)

Readings

Readings by Session

Required Texts

Brodwin, Paul. Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0521570298.

Butchart, Alexander. The Anatomy of Power: European Constructions of the African Body. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1998. ISBN: 185649540X.

Butler, Octavia E. Wild Seed. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1999. ISBN: 0446606723.

Fabian, Johannes. Out of Our Minds: Reason and Madness in the Exploration of Central Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. ISBN: 0520221230.

Geurts, Kathryn Linn. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN: 0520234561.

Gilman, Sander L. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985. ISBN: 0801493323.

Janzen, John M. The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978. ISBN: 0520046331.

Stoller, Paul. The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. ISBN: 0812212924.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. 2001.

Recommended Texts

Hunt, Nancy Rose. A Colonial Lexicon: Of Birth Ritual, Medicalization, and Mobility in the Congo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0822323664.

Peard, Julyan. Race, Place, and Medicine: The Idea of the Tropics in Nineteenth-Century Brazilian Medicine. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0822323974.

Films

Directed by Zola Maseko. The Life and Times of Sara Baartman - The Hottentot Venus. 1998, 53 minutes.

Directed by Fred Zinnemann. The Nun's Story. 1959, 149 minutes.

Strange Beliefs: Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard. Film for the Humanities and Sciences, Inc. 1990, 52 minutes.

Directed by Maya Deren. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. 1985, 52 minutes.

Directed by Anne Lescot and Laurence Magloire. Of Men and Gods. 2002, 52 minutes.

Directed by Zola Maseko. The Return of Sara Baartman. 2003, 55 minutes.

Readings by Session

Course readings.
Lec #	TOPICS	READINGS
Part One: The Colonial Imaginary and Disciplinary Practices
1-4	Section One: Biopolitics, the Fetish, and the Colonial Imaginary Lecture 1: Course Overview and Introduction	Lecture 1 Foucault, Michel. "The Politics of Health in the Eighteenth Century." In Power. Edited by James Faubion. Translated by Robert Hurley, et. al. London, UK: Penguin Books, 2002, pp. 90-105. ISBN: 0140259570. ———. "The Birth of Biopolitics." In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth. Edited by Paul Rabinow. Translated by Robert Hurley, et. al. London, UK: Penguin Books, 2000, pp. 73-79. ISBN: 0140259546. Lecture 2 Lock, Margaret, and Nancy Scheper Hughes. "A Critical-Interpretive Approach in Medical Anthropology: Rituals and Routines of Discipline and Dissent." In Medical Anthropology: Contemporary Theory and Method. Revised ed. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996, pp. 41-70. ISBN: 0275952657. Lecture 3 Pietz, William. "The Problem of the Fetish." Parts 1, 2, 3a, Res 9 (Spring 1985): 5-17, Res 13 (Spring 1987): 23-45, Res 16 (Autumn 1988): 105-123. Lecture 4 James, Erica. "Bio-Politics and the Struggle for Recognition." Chapter 2 in The Violence of Misery: "Insecurity" in Haiti in the "Democratic" Era. Doctoral Thesis, 2003, 34 pages.
5-6	Section Two: Ecstasis and the Shock of Culture Contact	Lecture 5 Fabian, Johannes. Out of Our Minds: Reason and Madness in the Exploration of Central Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000, chapters 3-5, pp. 52-127. ISBN: 0520221230. Lecture 6 ———. Out of Our Minds: Reason and Madness in the Exploration of Central Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000, chapters 8-9, pp. 180-239. ISBN: 0520221230.
7-8	Section Three: Historical Ideologies of Sexuality, Race, and Madness	Lecture 7 Gilman, Sander L. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985, introduction and chapter 3, pp. 15-35, 76-108. ISBN: 0801493323. Directed by Zola Maseko. The Life and Times of Sara Baartman - The Hottentot Venus. 1998, 53 minutes. Lecture 8 Gilman, Sander L. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985, pp. 109-149. ISBN: 0801493323. Littlewood, Roland, and Maurice Lipsedge. "Medicine and Racism." Chapter 2 in Aliens and Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1982, pp. 26-60. ISBN: 014022128X.
Part Two: Colonial Contexts of Medicine, Religion and Politics
9-10	Section Four: Colonial Medicine in South Africa	Lecture 9 Butchart, Alexander. The Anatomy of Power: European Constructions of the African Body. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1998, chapters 1, 5, 7, pp. 1-12, 74-91, 111-127. ISBN: 185649540X. Lecture 10 ———. The Anatomy of Power: European Constructions of the African Body. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1998, chapters 8-9, pp. 128-172. ISBN: 185649540X.
11-13	Section Five: Race, Gender, Colonial Medicine, and the Construction of Disease	Lecture 11 Peard, Julyan. Race, Place, and Medicine: The Idea of the Tropics in Nineteenth-Century Brazilian Medicine. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999, chapters 3-4, pp. 81-137. ISBN: 0822323974. Lecture 12 Hunt, Nancy Rose. A Colonial Lexicon: Of Birth Ritual, Medicalization, and Mobility in the Congo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999, chapter 5, pp. 196-236. ISBN: 0822323664. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. The Nun's Story. 1959, 149 minutes. Lecture 13 ———. A Colonial Lexicon: Of Birth Ritual, Medicalization, and Mobility in the Congo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999, chapter 6, pp. 237-280. ISBN: 0822323664. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. The Nun's Story. 1959, 149 minutes.
Part Three: Anthropological (Re)Constructions of "African" Religion, Healing and Embodiment
14-16	Section Six: Medical Pluralism in the Former Zaire	Lecture 14 Skim prior to class: Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1976, 1972 (c1937), pp. 1-119. ISBN: 0198740298. Janzen, John M. The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978, chapters 1-2, pp. 3-62. ISBN: 0520046331. Strange Beliefs: Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard. Film for the Humanities and Sciences, Inc. 1990, 52 minutes. Lecture 15 Janzen, John M. The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978, chapters 3-5, and 8, pp. 67-89, 114-125. ISBN: 0520046331. Lecture 16 ———. The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978, chapters 9-10, pp. 127-192. ISBN: 0520046331. Guest lecturer Kathleen O'Connor, "O Outro lado: Candomblé, Psychiatry and Discourse in Bahia, Brazil."
17-19	Section Seven: Culture, Morality, and the Senses in Ghana	Lecture 17 Geurts, Kathryn Linn. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002, chapters 1-3, pp. 3-69. ISBN: 0520234561. Lecture 18 ———. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002, chapters 4-7, pp. 73- 165. ISBN: 0520234561. Lecture 19 ———. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002, chapters 8-9, pp. 169-223. ISBN: 0520234561.
20	Section Eight: Sensory Ethnography in Niger	Stoller, Paul. The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. ISBN: 0812212924. (Entire book.) Directed by Maya Deren. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. 1985, 52 minutes.
Part Four: Cosmopolitan Medicine, Race, Gender, and Inequalities
21-22	Section Nine: Religion, Medicine, and the Medical Pluralism in Haiti	Lecture 21 Brodwin, Paul. Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996, introduction and chapters 1-2, pp. 1-55. ISBN: 0521570298. Directed by Anne Lescot and Laurence Magloire. Of Men and Gods. 2002, 52 minutes. Lecture 22 Brodwin, Paul. Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The Contest for Healing Power. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996, chapters 4-6, pp. 76-151. ISBN: 0521570298.
23-24	Section Ten: Contemporary Psychiatry: Race, Gender, and the Mind	Lecture 23 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Skim chapters 1-2, read chapter 3, pp. 53-76. Littlewood, Roland, and Maurice Lipsedge. Aliens and Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1982, chapter 3, pp. 61-82. ISBN: 014022128X. Lecture 24 Swartz, Leslie. Culture and Mental Health: A Southern African View. Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press, 1998, chapters 8-10, pp. 167-240. ISBN: 0195709810. Directed by Zola Maseko. The Return of Sara Baartman. 2003, 55 minutes.
25-26	Section Eleven: Fictions of Race, Gender, and Illness	Lecture 25 Butler, Octavia E. Wild Seed. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1999. ISBN: 0446606723. Book 1. Lecture 26 ———. Wild Seed. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1999. ISBN: 0446606723. Book 2.