AN210: Medical Anthropology (Fall 2023)

But as they are here longer, their health advantage erodes. After five years or more in the U.S., they are 1.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure - and be obese - than when they arrived. Within one generation, their health is as poor as other Americans of similar income status.

The film illustrates that these are the true roots of health – though generally overlooked in the contentious national debate over health care – and they can be improved dramatically for whole communities through social and political action. Roots of Health features three powerful stories filmed in London, England, Ahmedabad, India, and Oakland, California. Each story looks at the socio-economic conditions that contribute to illness, and how people can take charge of their own lives and health.

The intimacy of medical care is a window into the lives of the villagers and the challenges of integrating Western medical practices with traditional beliefs. Oli Otya? is a journey into the heart of medicine.

he year when everything changed. Stories of hope, despair, and a feeling that everyone has had to face: the sense of our own mortality. Twelve intimate portraits from twelve places in a fragile world.

Bhagat’s methods include conversation, rituals and herbal treatments. Joint trance sessions in which spirits talk constitute the core of his methodology. Should a patient fail to enter a trance, Bhagat’s assistant Meena takes the spirits into herself and is entranced on behalf of the patient. Bhagat examines the family and orders treatment.

When she finally gets a diagnosis, she discovers that her experience is common for Black women like herself, but very far from normal.

KalaLea also believes her experience is connected to a generational kind of pain—the pain of being a Black woman in America. Distrustful of Western medicine, KalaLea embarks on a journey to heal herself.