Instructor: Dr. Kodjo Senah

Project: Medical Anthropology

This project will be based right inside of Accra, where the student will work with Dr. Kodjo Senah to begin with a background study in medical anthropology in Ghana. After gaining a sense of the types of medicinal treatments, the prevalence of medicinal and spiritual healing in Accra, the location of the healers, the community in which they exist, the clients, and the political foundation upon which medicinal practices are performed, the student will perform further independent studies to extract the social and cultural grounding and impact of healers. While looking at various types of resources, acquired from nature, the student will begin to form an understanding of the significance of both the plants themselves, as well as the individual personalities that have incorporated these plants into practices within their communities. Among several other issues, gender, culture, social structure, religion, and economic development will be explored. Pharmacuadical anthropology is a potential offshoot of the student's research.

Among several other questions, the student will explore the following:

• Where are traditional healers located? Why? Who are they?
• What natural resources are most commonly used in ethnomedicinal practices?
• What problems exist within the framework of traditional medicine?
• What issues arise in regard to health and sanitation when studying traditional healing?
• Would studies of rural communities that have adopted traditional practices differ from the urban research?