"Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study."
Explores the methods of conducting fieldwork and ethnographic research in medical anthropology and how these methods are used to gain a deeper understanding of health and illness in different cultural contexts.
Definition and Scope of Ethnography: An introductory topic that dwells on the basic definitions and scope of ethnography, including its history, concepts, principles, and methods.
Anthropology and Health: A topic that deals with the overlap between medical anthropology and other anthropological fields, and how they are relevant to healthcare delivery and associated social and political issues.
Culture and Health: This topic explores the role of culture and its impact on health and well-being, including the influence of socio-cultural factors on health behaviors, beliefs, and practices.
Research Design and Methodology: A comprehensive topic that includes methodologies and research techniques that are used in the field of ethnography (e.g., participant observation, interviewing, and genealogical research).
Ethical Considerations: A topic that delves into the ethical considerations that are involved when conducting ethnographic research in the medical field, including ethical dilemmas, informed consent, confidentiality, and avoiding harm.
Fieldwork Techniques and Data Collection: A detailed exploration of the methods used in ethnographic research to collect data from respondents, such as the use of field notes and other techniques like video and audio recording.
Data Analysis and Interpretation: This topic covers the process of analysis and interpretation of collected data, including various methods such as coding, categorization, and quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques.
Medical Pluralism: A topic that deals with the coexistence of various medical systems, including biomedicine and traditional medicine, highlighting the challenges and facilitators of harmonizing them.
Health System Research: A subfield of medical anthropology that focuses on analyzing health systems and how they are influenced by political and social factors.
Health and Illness Narratives: A topic that involves exploring individual perspectives on health, illness, and healing, including how people's perceptions are shaped by their cultural, social, and historical backgrounds.
Global Health: This topic deals with the global health policies and their impact on vulnerable populations, including bioethics, disease control, and community-based approaches.
Health Inequalities: A topic that involves an analysis of the social disparities in access and utilization of healthcare services and how this impacts individuals and communities.
Population Dynamics and Health: A topic that examines how demographic factors such as migration, fertility, mortality, and aging affect health and healthcare delivery.
Health and Environment: A topic that explores the interrelationship between human health and the environment, including environmental pollution, climate change, and other environmental hazards.
Traditional Medicine and Ethnomedicine: A topic that examines traditional healing practices and the ways in which they can be integrated with biomedicine to promote health and well-being.
Medical Ethnography: This approach focuses on the cultural context of health and illness, including beliefs, practices, and social structures, with an emphasis on the patient perspective.
Clinical Ethnography: This approach is concerned with providing insight into the clinical practice and medical decision-making processes and cultural traditions.
Epidemiological Anthropology: This field combines knowledge of epidemiology and anthropology, it helps to identify macro-level trends in the spread and distribution of disease.
Applied Medical Anthropology: This approach emphasizes the importance of applying anthropological knowledge to address health issues in policy and intervention.
Critical and Political Medical Anthropology: It critiques mainstream health policies and the structural factors that contribute to poor health outcomes.
Participatory Action Research (PAR): This approach involves both researchers and community members working together on research projects to identify community health issues and develop interventions.
Ethnographic Case Studies: This method a detailed examination of a specific individual or group, to gain insights into medical experiences, practices, and social forces.
Auto-Ethnography: This method is a form of self-reflection and introspection employed to understand the subjective experience of the researcher within the context of the research.
Ethnography of Healthcare professionals: This type of ethnography focuses on the cultural aspects of healthcare providers and how these can impact patient care.
Comparative Ethnography: This approach involves the comparison of different cultures, examining cultural and social differences and how these impact health, illness and healing practices.
"Ethnography is [...] a type of social research that involves examining the behavior of the participants in a given social situation and understanding the group members' own interpretation of such behavior."
"Ethnography relies heavily on participant observation—on the researcher participating in the setting or with the people being studied, at least in some marginal role, and seeking to document, in detail, patterns of social interaction and the perspectives of participants."
"It had its origin in social and cultural anthropology in the early twentieth century, but spread to other social science disciplines, notably sociology, during the course of that century."
"Ethnographers mainly use qualitative methods, though they may also employ quantitative data."
"The typical ethnography is a holistic study and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate, and the habitat."
"A wide range of groups and organizations have been studied by this method, including traditional communities, youth gangs, religious cults, and organizations of various kinds."
"While, traditionally, ethnography has relied on the physical presence of the researcher in a setting, there is research using the label that has relied on interviews or documents, sometimes to investigate events in the past such as the NASA Challenger disaster."
"There is also a considerable amount of 'virtual' or online ethnography, sometimes labeled netnography or cyber-ethnography."
"Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study."
"Ethnography relies heavily on participant observation—on the researcher participating in the setting or with the people being studied."
"Ethnography seeks to document, in detail, patterns of social interaction and the perspectives of participants, and to understand these in their local contexts."
"Ethnography had its origin in social and cultural anthropology but spread to other social science disciplines, notably sociology."
"A wide range of groups and organizations have been studied by this method, including traditional communities, youth gangs, religious cults, and organizations of various kinds."
"There is research using the label that has relied on interviews or documents, sometimes to investigate events in the past such as the NASA Challenger disaster."
"The typical ethnography is a holistic study and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate, and the habitat."
"There is also a considerable amount of 'virtual' or online ethnography, sometimes labeled netnography or cyber-ethnography."
"Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study."
"Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study."
"Ethnographers mainly use qualitative methods, though they may also employ quantitative data."