21. Singer calls biomedicine, “bourgeois medicine”. What does he mean by this term and what does CMA seek to understand about it? (4 points)

Critical Medical Anthropology’s roots were shaped by theories created by Marx , Engels, and Wright Mills who all had a Marxist perspectives. Within this perspective the political economy and power differences between classes was emphasized. From this perspective, the terms bourgeois and the proletariat are used to characterized class based struggles. Singer, the anthropologist who created the CMA perspective used the term bourgeois medicine to characterize capitalist’s medical systems wherein the upper class control the access and quality of biomedicine health care. The CMA perspective attempts to understand …show more content…
The interpretive perspective views reality as socially constructed. What does this mean? (2 points)

The interpretive perspective views reality as socially constructed. Socially constructed means that ideas and characteristics people attribute to social categories such as gender, illness, death are culturally defined. Wherein anthropologist from this perspective use qualitative data methods to describe the variety of metaphorical conceptions and associated meanings in the cultural contexts of the group that they are studying.

25. The interpretive perspective takes a “meaning-centered approach”. How was this applied to the case of African American women with depression? (4 points)

In a study conducted by Black et al, the meaning and experiences of African American women with depression was analyzed. Through formal and informal interviews Black et al found that depression was linked to diminishment of strength resulting from difficulties of long life, related to sadness and suffering because all three were precipitated by the same or similar event, and was preventable or resolvable by personal responsibility. By interviewing the women, these themes emerged and the Black et al team was able to understand these women’s meanings of depression first …show more content…
The banning of brothels pushed women onto the street wherein the police further pushed them into unsafe areas. The spaces women were forced to go to in order to complete their work put them at greater harm for abuse from clients. If abuse were to occur, there were few legal repercussions to encounter. The controlling nature of boyfriend and the sex work market also encouraged sex work without condoms, which heightened women’s likelihood of catching STI’s. Although the women came up with coping mechanisms Shannon et al argue that through a renewed HIV prevention strategy that moves beyond an individual level focus to structural and environmental interventions through legal reforms HIV prevention will be more available and