Description
Instructor(s)/Supervisor(s)/Coordinator(s): Giulio ONGAROThis course explores illness and healing through an anthropological lens. Tripartite in structure, the course begins by considering a range of ‘apparently irrational’ medical systems around the world, outside the orbit of modern biomedicine, with a particular focus on the efficacy of healing rituals (e.g. shamanism in Laos). In the second part, we shift to biomedicine, critically analyzing its worldview and engaging with key anthropological debates on topics such as reproductive technologies, psychedelic medicine, the ethics of AI in medicine, and the social dimensions of biomedical practice. Finally, the course moves onto pressing issues like structural violence and the complexities of care-giving in contexts of inequality and extreme hardship. Through theoretical readings and ethnographic case studies, the course demonstrates how culture and power shape the experience of illness and provides essential tools to understand the interplay between medicine, health, and society.