Marcus Allen

Structured Commentary #2
1/15/14
The reading by Joralemon talks about medical ethics and how he uses it as a crosscultural concept that refers to rules and guidelines in each society. The author also talks about
how biomedicine is studied in attempt to resolve ethical disputes. The reading the author argues
that bioethics should be matched by an equivalent level of attention to the subject in social
sciences. The author claims that biomedical research it is important to make social scientific
observations and cross-cultural examinations. A source for the argument is medical schools
have incorporated bioethics into their curricula, and hospitals have established Initial Review
Boards and Ethics Committees (111). This was implemented to understand ethical issues and
the complexity that is involved with understanding ethics. I agreed with this article because, it
helped me understand biomedical ethics and how important social science is when considering
medical complexities form a cultural point of view.
The reading by Klienman talks about cultural competency and ways it can be improved to
benefit the quality of health care, patient satisfaction, avoid problems and decrease health
inequality related to race and ethnicity. The author argues that problems in cross cultural analysis
might be avoided with cultural competence training. The author also argues that cultural
competences are problematic for anthropologist, saying that cultural competence is based on
simplistic notions which led to unfortunate assumptions and stereotyping. Also implying that it
ignores cultural beliefs of health care providers . A good source for the argument is the optimal
way to do this is to train clinicians (292). This resolution was created by the author by means of
understanding what holds importance to the patient. What really matters most to the patient is
what a clinician should be most concerned with and also to improve cultural competency in the
medical field.
The article written by Kendall talks about ethnomedicine and Oral Rehydration and he
effects of anthropologists ways of thinking and analyzing the role of traditional ethno medical
beliefs. In this article the author argues that Oral Rehydration Therapy is a preventative
intervention that alleviates babies form getting sick from diarrhea. The cases used in the article
were used to examine issues with cross-cultural communication. This is similar to the previous
piece that relied heavily on the observations of anthropologist to understand the functions and
necessities of patients through cross-cultural examination of biomedical culture and the local
ethnomedical system. A good source for this argument is this example reinforces the results of
many other ethnographic studies conducted in conjunction with social change programs (444).
This is true even though ORT was effective, in most cases it was not accepted and viewed as
socially abnormal to families that denied the therapy. This article had a good example of a
situation where anthropologist used methods to evaluate issues with cross-cultural
communication and biomedical culture.
The reading by Hunt talks about illness amongst Mexican cancer patients and the way
medical anthropologist recognize and examine what could have caused that person to get sick.

Marcus Allen
Structured Commentary #2
1/15/14
The author argues that reconstructing of self and social identity occurs in response to chronic
illness requires long process of sustainable construction of a changed self and roles. A good
source for the argument is chronic illness and its treatment the illness became a central element
in the plot an altered life story with new themes, tensions and antagonist, a revised system of
power and a transformed protagonist(169). Analysis has allowed us to consider the highly
integrated nature of the physical and social disruptions of the produced by chronic illnesses sand
the embeddedness of the process of reorganizing people undertake in reconstructing an identity
in the context of such an illness. I enjoyed reading this article because; it helped me understand
the way and the analysis that take place to understand the differences between cancer, disease,
and illness through illness narratives.
The reading by Singer and Baer talks about the methods and applications medical
anthropologist apply when trying to understand bioethical medicine and understanding crosscultural competency. The author also talks about the distinctive field of medical anthropological
approach to study the broad holistic vision of the field of anthropology. The author argues that
medical anthropology is very vital to understanding the social complexities and communication
competency with patients to improve biomedical treatment. A good source for the argument is
the use of consensus analysis allows researchers to determine the degree of cultural agreement in
a group or subgroups of a larger population (67). This helps me understand the importance of an
anthropologist point of view in the context of improving biomedical cultures and understanding
ethnomedical treatments by utilizing cross-cultural examinations.
This weeks reading showed me how important anthropologist can be in the field of
medicine by making cross-cultural examinations to improve healthcare and to understand the
complexities and variations of treatments for groups of people in certain populations.