Anthropology & Medicine, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1998
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Courses in medical anthropology: Germany COMPILED BY KATARINA GREIFELD Since the mid-1970s, medical anthropology has been taught sporadically at various German universities. Before discussing the current situation, it must be noted that the German university system is quite different from other European countries. In most Institutes of Anthropology, students make a personal choice of seminars, duration of attendance at the University, etc. 'Courses' of some kind exist only to a very limited degree, and there is no possibility to gain a special 'Masters', e.g. in Medical Anthropology. Courses lead to an examination that confers a diploma or, more often, a Magister Artium. However, at postgraduate level, doctoral theses lead to a Dr. Phil. Besides, in the whole German university system, 'inscription' or registration is free. Courses are therefore not held for special audiences to get money into the institute boxes—education is free. Unfortunately, with an ever growing number of students, and a steadily diminishing portfolio of teaching personnel, etc. the situation is getting worse, and for Medical Anthropology, the scenario is bleak. There is not a single chair of 'Medical Anthropology', and in a recent overview of the 'Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde' (that is the German Association of Social/Cultural Anthropology) carried out in spring 1997 (on the teaching and chairs at German universities), not a single person cites Medical Anthropology as a special field of interest. This fact is almost astonishing since the founders of anthropological teaching
at universities and museums during the last century were medical doctors: Adolf Bastian, Rudolph Virchow and Bernhard Hagen. There is one exception to the situation described, and that is at the University of Heidelberg. At the University of Heidelberg, anthropology and medicine have a longstanding tradition of cross-fertilization. From the mid-19th century onwards based on research by clinicans and scientists such as Conradi, Kussmaul, Erb, Krehl and von Weizsäcker, clinical medicine in Heidelberg was grounded in anthropology and philosophy. Von Weizsäcker, who taught in Heidelberg until the 1950s, developed a medical anthropological school based on anthropological and psychosomatic ideas. The Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health of Heidelberg University has been promoting Medical Anthropology since the early 1970s, when the first medical anthropologist was hired (B. Pfleiderer) and teaching modules were integrated into various courses taught at the Institute. In the 1980s, Profs Sich and Diesfeld developed Medical Anthropology by redefining the ethnomedical approach prevailing in Germany under the conceptual framework of 'Medical Anthropology in Cross-cultural Comparison' (Kulturvergleichende Medizinische Anthropologie). Under their leadership, Medical Anthropology became an integral area of research and teaching within the broad public health mandate of the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, sensitising physicians and development workers to
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non-Western health settings. Research in the field is being designed and undertaken with a particular concern for its public health relevance and its potential for application. The crucial health concerns include infectious diseases, cardio-vascular disease, malnutrition, reproductive health, mental health, and water and hygiene research. An interdisciplinary work group (Work Group Medical Anthropology and Public Health) is currently actively promoting the field with an emphasis on public health issues. At the Department of Anthropology at the University's South-Asia Institute, Medical Anthropology courses have run for several years. In the early 1990s, until his sudden demise in 1994, Prof. Burghart, a well-known medical anthropologist, became Head of the Department of Anthropology and began to establish a medical anthropology programme. Prof. Wassmann, the new chair of the newly founded Institute of Anthropology, shows continued commitment towards Medical Anthropology. A close collaboration between both the Institute of Anthropology and the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health exists and a collaborative and continous teaching programme has been established. Common fieldworks on public health in general and the perception of (health) risks in particular are in planning. In most of the other universities (e.g. Leipzig, Mainz, Marburg) Medical Anthropology is taught sporadically, not on a regular basis or in form of a course, by scientists who are closely involved in this field often outside of the university framework. Students interested in attending Medical Anthropology seminars have to choose from a range of teaching offered. Sometimes such courses are also run within the Faculty of Medicine, as for
example in the field of sociology of medicine or history of medicine (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt). All this does not mean that there is no interest in Medical Anthropology. In fact, courses are often crowded with students. An interest in thesis writing (MA as well as doctoral) in that subfield is high. And offers to give a course are highly appreciated, both by students and chairs. Given the situation in other European countries where the importance of Medical Anthropology is increasingly acknowledged as relevant and crucial, the reluctance to found at least a single chair in Germany is not really understandable. For further details on various courses,
contact: Universität Frankfurt, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Dr. Thomas Lux, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 20-22, D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany. Tel: + 49-696301-566245; Fax: +49-69-6301-5672; e-mail: [email protected] Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Dr. Jürg Wassmann, Sandgasse 7, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Tel: +49-6221-542236; Fax: + 49-6221- 543556; e-mail: juerg. [email protected]; http:www. eth.uni-heidelberg.de Univeristät Heidelberg, Institute für Tropenhygiene und Öffentliches Gesundheitswesen, Work Group Medical Anthropology and Public Health, Dr. Johannes Sommerfeld, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Tel: +49-6221-562903; Fax: + 49-6221-564918; e-mail: johannes_ [email protected]. de; http:www.hyg.uni-heidelberg.de/ ithoeg/ Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Wirsing, Schillerstr. 6, D-04109 Leipzig, Germany. Tel: + 49341-9737221. Universität Mainz, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Strecker, Forum 6, D-55099 Mainz, Germany. Tel: + 496131-392798.
Courses in medical anthropology 121 About the author: Katarina Greifeid works as an international health consultant and teaches Medical Anthropology courses. She co-authored the only german-speaking introduction in Medical Anthropology: B. Pfleiderer, K. Greifeld and W. Bichmann: Ritual und Heilung. Einführung in die Ethnomedizin. Berlin 1995 (Reimer) and served on the edi-
torial board of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ethnomedizin (AGEM) which publishes the journal Curare—Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin und Transkulturelle Psy-
chiatrie. She can be contacted through Tel./Fax: +49-69-440686, e-mail: [email protected], or by mail: Mauerweg 10, D-60316 Frankfurt.
119
Courses in medical anthropology: Germany COMPILED BY KATARINA GREIFELD Since the mid-1970s, medical anthropology has been taught sporadically at various German universities. Before discussing the current situation, it must be noted that the German university system is quite different from other European countries. In most Institutes of Anthropology, students make a personal choice of seminars, duration of attendance at the University, etc. 'Courses' of some kind exist only to a very limited degree, and there is no possibility to gain a special 'Masters', e.g. in Medical Anthropology. Courses lead to an examination that confers a diploma or, more often, a Magister Artium. However, at postgraduate level, doctoral theses lead to a Dr. Phil. Besides, in the whole German university system, 'inscription' or registration is free. Courses are therefore not held for special audiences to get money into the institute boxes—education is free. Unfortunately, with an ever growing number of students, and a steadily diminishing portfolio of teaching personnel, etc. the situation is getting worse, and for Medical Anthropology, the scenario is bleak. There is not a single chair of 'Medical Anthropology', and in a recent overview of the 'Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde' (that is the German Association of Social/Cultural Anthropology) carried out in spring 1997 (on the teaching and chairs at German universities), not a single person cites Medical Anthropology as a special field of interest. This fact is almost astonishing since the founders of anthropological teaching
at universities and museums during the last century were medical doctors: Adolf Bastian, Rudolph Virchow and Bernhard Hagen. There is one exception to the situation described, and that is at the University of Heidelberg. At the University of Heidelberg, anthropology and medicine have a longstanding tradition of cross-fertilization. From the mid-19th century onwards based on research by clinicans and scientists such as Conradi, Kussmaul, Erb, Krehl and von Weizsäcker, clinical medicine in Heidelberg was grounded in anthropology and philosophy. Von Weizsäcker, who taught in Heidelberg until the 1950s, developed a medical anthropological school based on anthropological and psychosomatic ideas. The Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health of Heidelberg University has been promoting Medical Anthropology since the early 1970s, when the first medical anthropologist was hired (B. Pfleiderer) and teaching modules were integrated into various courses taught at the Institute. In the 1980s, Profs Sich and Diesfeld developed Medical Anthropology by redefining the ethnomedical approach prevailing in Germany under the conceptual framework of 'Medical Anthropology in Cross-cultural Comparison' (Kulturvergleichende Medizinische Anthropologie). Under their leadership, Medical Anthropology became an integral area of research and teaching within the broad public health mandate of the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, sensitising physicians and development workers to
1364-8470/98/010119-03 © 1998 Carfax Publishing Ltd
120
Courses in medical anthropology
non-Western health settings. Research in the field is being designed and undertaken with a particular concern for its public health relevance and its potential for application. The crucial health concerns include infectious diseases, cardio-vascular disease, malnutrition, reproductive health, mental health, and water and hygiene research. An interdisciplinary work group (Work Group Medical Anthropology and Public Health) is currently actively promoting the field with an emphasis on public health issues. At the Department of Anthropology at the University's South-Asia Institute, Medical Anthropology courses have run for several years. In the early 1990s, until his sudden demise in 1994, Prof. Burghart, a well-known medical anthropologist, became Head of the Department of Anthropology and began to establish a medical anthropology programme. Prof. Wassmann, the new chair of the newly founded Institute of Anthropology, shows continued commitment towards Medical Anthropology. A close collaboration between both the Institute of Anthropology and the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health exists and a collaborative and continous teaching programme has been established. Common fieldworks on public health in general and the perception of (health) risks in particular are in planning. In most of the other universities (e.g. Leipzig, Mainz, Marburg) Medical Anthropology is taught sporadically, not on a regular basis or in form of a course, by scientists who are closely involved in this field often outside of the university framework. Students interested in attending Medical Anthropology seminars have to choose from a range of teaching offered. Sometimes such courses are also run within the Faculty of Medicine, as for
example in the field of sociology of medicine or history of medicine (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt). All this does not mean that there is no interest in Medical Anthropology. In fact, courses are often crowded with students. An interest in thesis writing (MA as well as doctoral) in that subfield is high. And offers to give a course are highly appreciated, both by students and chairs. Given the situation in other European countries where the importance of Medical Anthropology is increasingly acknowledged as relevant and crucial, the reluctance to found at least a single chair in Germany is not really understandable. For further details on various courses,
contact: Universität Frankfurt, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Dr. Thomas Lux, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 20-22, D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany. Tel: + 49-696301-566245; Fax: +49-69-6301-5672; e-mail: [email protected] Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Dr. Jürg Wassmann, Sandgasse 7, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Tel: +49-6221-542236; Fax: + 49-6221- 543556; e-mail: juerg. [email protected]; http:www. eth.uni-heidelberg.de Univeristät Heidelberg, Institute für Tropenhygiene und Öffentliches Gesundheitswesen, Work Group Medical Anthropology and Public Health, Dr. Johannes Sommerfeld, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Tel: +49-6221-562903; Fax: + 49-6221-564918; e-mail: johannes_ [email protected]. de; http:www.hyg.uni-heidelberg.de/ ithoeg/ Universität Leipzig, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Wirsing, Schillerstr. 6, D-04109 Leipzig, Germany. Tel: + 49341-9737221. Universität Mainz, Institut für Ethnologie, Prof. Strecker, Forum 6, D-55099 Mainz, Germany. Tel: + 496131-392798.
Courses in medical anthropology 121 About the author: Katarina Greifeid works as an international health consultant and teaches Medical Anthropology courses. She co-authored the only german-speaking introduction in Medical Anthropology: B. Pfleiderer, K. Greifeld and W. Bichmann: Ritual und Heilung. Einführung in die Ethnomedizin. Berlin 1995 (Reimer) and served on the edi-
torial board of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ethnomedizin (AGEM) which publishes the journal Curare—Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin und Transkulturelle Psy-
chiatrie. She can be contacted through Tel./Fax: +49-69-440686, e-mail: [email protected], or by mail: Mauerweg 10, D-60316 Frankfurt.
