IDEAS IN ACTION
Cultural Models and Health - ANTH 437 / HSOC 437 / GAFL 474Term: Spring 2008
Instructor: Dr. F. Barg
Distinguished Policymaker: Calvin Johnson, MD, MPH, Secretary of Health, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Course Description: There is a great deal of variation among population groups in the incidence of and mortality from most major diseases. Biological and social factors can account for some of this variation. However, there is increasing evidence that behavior - and the cultural models that are linked to health behavior - play an important role too. This seminar will explore the history of cognitive anthropology, schema theory, connectionism, the role of cultural models, and factors affecting health decision making. Methods for identifying cultural models will be discussed and practiced. Implications for health policy will be discussed. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the concept of health disparities and to provide them with tools, grounded in cognitive anthropology, to investigate ways to address the unequal burden of disease among some population groups. During the semester, student groups will develop a research proposal designed to investigate a health disparity issue among a particular group of people. The project must be designed to support or test a health policy issue that could address the disparity.