Response Paper #1

ANTH 103 (online)

DUE: Fri 4/10 (week 12) by uploading to Blackboard

*Remember to closely attend to any feedback given on previous writing assignments, as well as

the “Make Yours Look Like Mine” Exercises—do NOT submit this until you have!

*Make sure you follow the Writing and Citing documents!

Regarding the Citing document, note below that, unlike the Analytic Papers, you will not be

providing in-text citations for these; however, note that you will provide a Works Cited section.

Also note you do not need Section II, “Organization,” of the Writing document.

Here we will begin using Caring For Patients from Different Cultures with a direct focus on the

topic of medical anthropology. You will provide responses to three Response Papers. If you are

going in to health care, this book is obviously directly useful. However, even if you are not, this

material is still quite useful. The passages present rich examples of cross-cultural cases that tie

back to our textbook material. And even though we are not using all the chapters. I do

encourage you to review them nevertheless. Note that the first Response Paper also includes

one PDF posted on Blackboard.

Chapters for Response Paper #1:

–“Health and Medicine” (PDF posted on Blackboard)

–c. 1 (ONLY: pp. 1-3 and 11-23)

–c. 2 “Communication and Time Orientation”

–c. 7 “Men and Women”

–c. 6 “Family”

First, Important Information on Caring for Patients From Different Cultures:

Always keep in mind that this book uses common labels to refer to societal groupings of people

by religion, nationality, ethnicity, so-called “race,” etc. For example, references are made to

“African American,” “Anglo American,” “Arab,” “Hmong,” “Jewish,” “Mexican” (note those are

in alphabetical order), and so on with regard to particular practices or beliefs.

Remember that these broad terms are used to make generalizations to help understand the

group and the author is not implying that a particular practice or behavior applies to all

members of the group. The author explains this in c. 1, and you will explain this yourself as part of

the assignment. Further, the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains this idea

based on her own experience in a popular TED Talk video “The Danger of a Single Story.” You

will explain this as part of the assignment as well.

Use of these labels should also not imply that there is some sort of natural link between the given

group and the given practice or belief. Rather, the practices or beliefs discussed tend to be

more common among the given group. You of course may be a member of one of the

referenced groups yourself; and what you read may not apply, or apply the same, to you or

what you know.

2

Just remember that these are general guidelines; also remember they are subject to change.

Applying guidelines by group affiliation can be useful and these are designed to help. But an

open mind should always be applied as well.

What to do for the assignment:

Go through the given chapter’s sections and subsections and, in your own words, provide

examples of the material provided to make the given point. This should be brief, as you are not

explaining anything beyond the explanation given by the author (just in your own words). But

you must be specific with regard to the point and the cultural content being conveyed. Avoid

general characterizations—what exactly is the cultural difference and what’s the point?

The idea here is that going beyond simply reading these cases, taking down examples of them

in your own words will help solidify for you the point of each section/subsection.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT provide in-text citations for this assignment. All you are doing is providing

examples from the reading, so no need to point that out. However, you MUST include works

cited at the end—because, though you are not providing in-text citations, you are nevertheless

taking material from this source, so it needs to be cited.

To format this you must indicate the chapter in bold then the section and subsection (or just

section for the cases of no subsections) in bold, then provide your response under that. See

examples below.

Note that when making such a list, you must avoid auto-formatting that indents the list—all text

on the left margin must be at the standard one inch. This is for saving paper (or space) and

keeping you free from the tyranny of auto-formatting for greater ease in editing, copy/pasting,

and generally working further with the document. Do, however, double space as usual.

Your responses must, for example, look like the following:

c. 2 “Communication and Time Orientation”

Language Issues – Idioms

Your response….

Language Issues – Another English

Your response….

Language Issues – Same Language, Different Meaning

Your response….

And here it is:

3

“Health and Medicine” (PDF posted on Blackboard):

NOTE: Since this part is not from Caring For Patients from Different Cultures, the above

format does not apply here. Simply respond to these three prompts with a paragraph

each. Though do stick with the standard left-alignment.

As for Works Cited info for this one, it must look exactly like this:

Henninger-Rener, Sashur. “Health and Medicine.” Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural

Anthropology, edited by Nina Brown, Laura Tubelle de González, and Thomas McIlwraith,

Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges, a section of the American

Anthropological Association, 2017.

–Briefly explain what “medical anthropology” is and what such anthropologists do. This must

include the term “biocultural.”

–Briefly explain ethnomedicine, ethno-etiology, and the biomedical approach, noting the

differences, with specific examples.

–Briefly explain culture-bound syndromes, with specific examples.

———-

c. 1 “Basic Concepts” (ONLY: pp. 1-3 and 11-23)

NOTE: This is from Caring For Patients from Different Cultures, but it’s the intro material, not

one of the content-specific chapters that follow. So again, the above example format

does not apply here. Simply respond to these two prompts with a paragraph each.

Though do stick with the standard left-alignment. The above example format begins with

the next chapter.

–Briefly explain the concept “cultural competence” under the section titled “Cultural

Competence,” with specific examples.

–Briefly explain the difference between stereotypes and generalizations under the section

“Stereotype Versus Generalization,” with specific examples.

Here, you must also briefly summarize the TED Talk video “The Danger of a Single Story” by

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. You must explain her point, with specific examples. NOTE: Do not

formally cite this; simply refer to it:

———-

c. 2 “Communication and Time Orientation”

“Language Issues” covers nine subsections (beginning with “Idioms”)

–Read over the material and provide, in your own words, one of the examples explained for

ANY FIVE of the nine subsections.

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“Communication Style” covers six subsections (beginning with “Formal Versus Informal

Language”)

–Read over all material and provide, in your own words, one of the examples explained for ANY

FOUR of the six subsections.

“Interpreters”

–Read over all the material and provide, in your own words, ANY ONE of the examples

explained

“Dealing with Silence”

–Read over all the material and provide, in your own words, ANY ONE of the examples

explained

“Nonverbal Communication” covers four subsections (beginning with “Eye Contact”)

–Read over the material and provide, in your own words, one of the examples explained from

ANY TWO of the four subsections.

—–

c. 6 “Family”

“Decision-Making” covers two subsections (beginning with “Family as Decision-Maker” and

“Authority Figures”)

–For each of the two subsections, read over the material and provide, in your own words, one of

the examples explained (SO TWO TOTAL).

“The Role of the Family” covers seven subsections (beginning with “What Constitutes Family?”)

–Read over the material and for ANY FIVE of the seven subsections provide, in your own words,

one of the examples explained

—–

c. 7 “Men and Women”

“Sex Roles” covers four subsections (beginning with “Women as Caretakers”)

–For each of the four subsections, read over the material and provide, in your own words, one of

the examples explained (SO FOUR TOTAL).

“Female Purity” covers three subsections (beginning with “Sexual Segregation”)

–For each of the three subsections, read over the material and provide, in your own words, one

of the examples explained (SO THREE TOTAL).

“Female Modesty”

–Read over all the material and provide, in your own words, TWO of the examples explained

“Domestic Violence”

–Read over all the material and provide, in your own words, TWO of the examples explained