Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

This course explores the field of anthropology from the perspective of health systems in diverse sociocultural contexts (global North and global South, indigenous and non-indigenous societies, etc.). The first part of the course focuses on mental health, concepts of normalcy and pathology from a transcultural perspective, representations of madness, and the social and medical institutions that objectify them. The second part of the course examines the notion of the person, how the body is conceived of culturally and physically, how it ages and how it dies. The course also considers other topics such as feminist anthropological critiques of sexuality and gender, the anthropology of transmissible diseases, profound trauma, and questions of morality and culture in biomedicine and medical technology.

This course seeks to develop verbal and written skills at the advanced level. By the end of the course, students will be able to communicate freely with native speakers. Textual analysis and formal academic writing are required. Various aspects of Chilean culture are also examined. * Units reduced to correspond with UC quarter units for comparable course work.