Merrill Singer is Professor at the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut; and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention. Pamela I. Erickson is Professor at the Department of Anthropology and Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut.

“It will be of use to undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as proving worthwhile to academics seeking accessible summaries of areas outside their specialism.”—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

• Synopsis of Contents viiiList of Figures xixList of Tables xxNotes on Contributors xxiAcknowledgments – Personal xxxiiAcknowledgments – Sources xxxiiiIntroduction 1Part I Theories, Applications, and Methods 71 Medical Anthropology in Disciplinary Context: Definitional Struggles and Key Debates (or Answering the Cri Du Coeur) 9Elisa J. Sobo2 Critical Biocultural Approaches in Medical Anthropology 29Tom Leatherman and Alan H. Goodman3 Applied Medical Anthropology: Praxis, Pragmatics, Politics, and Promises 49Robert T. Trotter, II4 Research Design and Methods in Medical Anthropology 69Clarence C. Gravlee5 Medical Anthropology and Public Policy 93Merrill EisenbergPart II Contexts and Conditions 1176 Culture and the Stress Process 119William W. Dressler7 Global Health 135Craig R. Janes and Kitty K. Corbett8 Syndemics in Global Health 159Merrill Singer, D. Ann Herring, Judith Littleton, and Melanie Rock9 The Ecology of Disease and Health 181Patricia K. Townsend10 The Medical Anthropology of Water 197Linda M. Whiteford and Cecilia Vindrola Padros11 Political Violence, War and Medical Anthropology 219Barbara Rylko-Bauer and Merrill SingerPart III Health and Behavior 25112 Humans in a World of Microbes: The Anthropology of Infectious Disease 253Peter J. Brown, George J. Armelagos, and Kenneth C. Maes13 Sexuality, Medical Anthropology, and Public Health 271Pamela I. Erickson14 Situating Birth in the Anthropology of Reproduction 289Carolyn Sargent and Lauren Gulbas15 Nutrition and Health 305David A. Himmelgreen, Nancy Romero Daza and Charlotte A. Noble16 Anthropologies of Cancer and Risk, Uncertainty and Disruption 323Lenore Manderson17 Generation RX: Anthropological Research on Pharmaceutical Enhancement, Lifestyle Regulation, Self-Medication and Recreational Drug Use 339Gilbert Quintero and Mark Nichter18 Anthropology and the Study of Illicit Drug Use 357J. Bryan PagePart IV Healthwork: Care, Treatment, and Communication 37919 Ethnomedicine 381Marsha B. Quinlan20 Medical Pluralism: An Evolving and Contested Concept in Medical Anthropology 405Hans A. Baer21 Biotechnologies of Care 425Julie Park and Ruth Fitzgerald22 Social Interaction and Technology: Cultural Competency and the Universality of Good Manners 443Kathryn Coe, Gail Barker, and Craig Palmer23 Biocommunicability 459Charles L. Briggs24 Anthropology at the End of Life 477Ron BarrettPart V The Road Ahead 49125 Operationalizing a Right to Health: Theorizing a National Health System as a "Commons" 493Sandy Smith-Nonini and Beverly Bell26 As the Future Explodes into the Present: Emergent Issues and the Tomorrow of Medical Anthropology 515Merrill Singer and Pamela I. EricksonIndex 533