社会与生物的连接点:医学人类学国际研究动态

At the Intersection between Society and Biology:A Review of Contemporary International Studies in Medical Anthropology

人受制于生态-自然的进化规则,也创造社会文化适应甚至改变进化规则。对这一受制及改变的过程与人类疾病和健康关系的研究,构成了医学人类学的研究对象。梳理了医学人类学研究的三个核心问题,即在健康和疾病领域人的社会性与生物性结合的微观机制(具身化)和宏观机制(协同进化理论),以及这两个机制下的结果(地方生物学)。最后,探讨了医学人类学研究碰到的方法论挑战,即如何结合现代生命科学和生命科学之外的文化传统对健康和疾病的理解。

Human beings are subject to the mechanisms of natural evolution,while creating society and culture in adapting to and even fine-tuning the mechanisms of evolution.Medical anthropology studies this process of adaptation and finetuning in the domain of health and illness.This paper provides a comprehensive review of three key questions of current studies in medical anthropology：the micro-level mechanism（embodiment）and macro-level mechanism（co-evolution）of human bio-social entanglement,and local biology as a result.It also discusses the methodological challenges encountered in contemporary medical anthropology：how to integrate modern life sciences with studies and practices concerning human health and illness outside the scope of modern science.