Traditionally, culture has played an important role in modifying natural stressors such as heat and cold. Housing, diet, and clothing traditions can alter such stressors considerably. But in today’s globalizing world, the effects of culture are much more complex. Rather than alleviating physical stressors through simple cultural adaptations such as housing, diet, and clothing, cultural processes are adding stressors such as pollution, global warming, and exhaustion of the world’s natural resources.
People cannot biologically adapt to these human-made stressors because biological change simply cannot keep pace with the rapid rate at which humans are changing the earth. Until human cultures cooperate to collectively address these global challenges, unnatural stressors will inevitably lead to sickness and suffering. An integrated, holistic anthropological perspective has much to contribute to alleviating if not eliminating these human-made stressors.
Hunting response A cyclic expansion and contraction of the blood vessels of the limbs that balances releasing enough heat to prevent frostbite while maintaining heat in the body core.
Visual Counterpoint
Shamans and biomedical doctors both rely upon manipulation of symbols to heal their patients. The physician's white coat is a powerful symbol of medical knowledge and authority that communicates to patients just as clearly as does the shaman's drum. Interestingly, medical schools in the United States are increasingly incorporating a “white coat" ceremony into medical education, conferring the power of the white coat onto new doctors.
The anthropological perspective holds that, beyond biology, cultural factors must be taken into account in any examination of human sickness and suffering. Human-made environments are shaped not only by local culture but by global political and economic systems. In short, anthropological perspectives are vital for successful adaptation to today’s changing world.
World History
