Tag: medical anthropology

Seeing, Acting, Believing: The CyberKnife and the Transformation of Medical Imaging

Thomson Chakramakkil May 14, 2026
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Dr. Sinha is the anti-Benjamin of our times. He asks his patients to believe in the aura of the machine. When I meet him in the treatment room at the corner of the Radiation Oncology wing on a Thursday afternoon—its ceiling painted blue with drifting, improbable clouds—he speaks in paragraphs, waxing lyrical about the CyberKnife’s precision. The CyberKnife’s industrial robotic arm, he tells me, is a direct import from the automobile assembly line. At his cue, the technologists in the control room set it in motion. The arm whirrs as it moves along three linear and rotational axes; it is designed to track the movements of the patient’s body in real time. Dr. Sinha walks me through each piece of the ensemble: the ceiling-mounted x-ray machines that track the tumour’s position, the large linear accelerator that charges the radiation beam, a phantom skull laid on the table for setting delivery coordinates. “High dose and minimal margins,” he insists, “is the future of radiation therapy.” (read more...)

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Microbes and the Permeable Body: Rethinking Health Through the Holobiont

Bronte Jones May 12, 2026
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Donna Haraway opens When Species Meet with the proclamation that “human genomes can be found in only about 10 percent of all the cells that occupy the mundane space I call my body” (Haraway, 2007). The rest of the human body is comprised of bacteria, viruses, archaea and other microorganisms – largely invisible to the human eye, but nonetheless living on and within us. In recent years we have seen a proliferation of research and attention towards these microorganisms, particularly in the gut, skin, lungs, and mouth, with each comprising their own microbiome. Although this research is still developing, it is increasingly clear that these microorganisms may actually be fundamental to the development and functioning of human bodies. (read more...)

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From Hotspots to Outbreaks: Keywords for (Un)Grounding Space, Temporality, and the Boundaries of Infection

Joyce Lu, Katharina Rynkiewich, Pat Kinley April 2, 2026
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This special series examines the spatial, temporal, and conceptual boundaries of infection. As a primarily analytic approach, the authors in this series unpack epidemiologic keywords such as outbreak, hotspot and epidemic, to assess their uptake, uses and meanings amongst scientists, public health and healthcare practitioners, experts and broader publics. As disruptions to public health ripple through the healthcare landscape in the United States, and whilst the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to haunt our collective present, the fundamental terms or “keywords” through which we understand disease transmission demand ethnographically-grounded inquiry, critique, and theorization. The posts in this series look at how infectious diseases and their conceptualizations spread through space and time, as well as how ethnography can articulate the expansive, lived realities of infection. (read more...)

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The Human Cost of Precision

Samiksha Bhan March 24, 2026
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In 2022, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s son died at the age of twenty-six from a lifelong battle with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder caused by birth-related brain damage. When in 2017, Nadella delivered a talk about the use of assistive artificial intelligence for people suffering from disabilities like CP, he was contacted by one his colleagues in Spain. Julián Isla, a software engineer at Microsoft, emailed Nadella out of a sense of resonance, because his own son suffered from a rare genetic epilepsy making him a parent of a child living with disability as well. Like Nadella, Isla was also motivated to think of the role of artificial intelligence in the assistance of other parents who, as he described, were on the “odyssey of diagnosis”. (read more...)

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Laughter and Dreaming of Wins in Recovery

Hannah Ali April 29, 2025
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“Hannah, roll a six!,” Mahad, Alliance Wellness recovery program resident, pleaded as the game of Ludo intensified. Ludo, a strategic and competitive board game, was popular among Somali American men, such as Mahad, who were in the process of renegotiating their dependency on substance use. These men also held vivid memories of playing Ludo in Somalia and neighboring countries that they moved through as they sought asylum from Somalia’s civil war. I first heard about Ludo when I began fieldwork at Alliance Wellness, a recovery program for an East African communities that was developed out of community need in Bloomington, Minnesota. With increasing rates of opioid related addiction and deaths among Somali Americans, Yussuf Shafie recognized a need for culturally appropriate therapy and recovery programs for Somali Americans in Minnesota (Feshir 2019). (read more...)

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Green Lady Cambodia: A Small Initiative for A Big Change on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Education

Aikaterini Mitselou, Isabell Hedke November 21, 2024
ខ្លឹមសារនេះក៏មានជាភាសាខ្មែរផងដែរ។
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Authors’ Note: The following essay uses the words “women” and “girls” in order to mirror the phrasing and experiences of cited literature as well as the responses of the participants in our studies. We wanted to represent and relay the insights provided by all parties in the manner in which they were expressed to us directly or as they were published. This wording was not chosen to deliberately exclude the range of people who experience menstruation in Cambodia and around the world, as we recognise and understand that menstruation is not a gender-specific experience by any means. If anything, we support that MHH is an effort to be tackled by all. Achieving menstrual health is crucial for attaining good health and well-being, ensuring quality education and promoting gender equality. Although it is slowly gaining recognition on a global scale, menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) needs are still not met in many countries. Particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), many girls are not informed or prepared before experiencing their first period (Chandra-Mouli & Patel, 2017). In Cambodia, girls and women follow strong cultural beliefs about menstruation, such as avoiding certain foods and drinks when on period (Sommer et al., 2014). Information is seldomly provided, as the topic is not openly discussed at home and teachers lack confidence to educate about reproductive health (Conolly & Sommer, 2013). WASH infrastructure in schools is inadequate with not enough toilets and a lack of privacy, leading to feelings of discomfort and avoidance of facilities (Sommer et al., 2014, Conolly & Sommer, 2013). This results in menstrual accidents like leakages, and being labeled as unhygienic (Daniels et al., 2022). If MHH needs are not met, girls experience fear and shyness throughout menstruation, impacting their lives by having to miss social activities, transit locations to change sanitary pads, and missing school days (Daniels et al., 2022).  (read more...)

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Medicine Disoriented

Amanda Quan August 15, 2024
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Once a week, I get to play doctor. Setting aside the endless anki cards and slide decks familiar to all medical students in their preclinical training, I turn instead to my patient interview skills and exam maneuvers as I enter the Kanbar Center. Located on the lower floor of the UCSF campus library behind an unassuming door, the Kanbar Center opens into a large simulation center where we hone our clinical skills with the help of standardized patients. Inside, the quiet, carpet-lined hallways of our library give way to a busy assemblage of medical cabinets, recliners, assorted supplies, and sterile rooms outlined by equipment-adorned walls. This signals our official entry into The Clinic. Against this backdrop, my peers and I don our white coats and adjust our stethoscopes before stepping into the simulation. (read more...)

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Waves of Well-being: Surfing at the Shaka Surf Club in Kodi Bengre, India

Laura Werle May 21, 2024
यह सामग्री हिन्दी में भी उपलब्ध है
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Surfing’s roots are in long-standing cultures in the Pacific Islands, South America, and West Africa. After wave-riding was banned by European Missionaries who deemed it leisurely and “savage,” surfing’s contemporary “revitalisation” took place in Hawaii where it became a notable phenomenon of the 20th century. Nowadays, surfing represents a subculture around an “alternative” sport, a lifestyle, and an art with profound personal and lifestyle implications (Ford & Brown, 2006). Likewise, in India, particularly in the fishing village Kodi Bengre, surfing means much more than simply sliding along a wave. This qualitative study captures how the Shaka Surf Club shapes perceptions of well-being and mental health in surfers and surrounding community members in Kodi Bengre. (read more...)

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