Disease in Populations in Transition - Anthropological and Epidemiological Perspectives

Societies in transition are often faced with new settings and/or new diseases that require a response in order for the affected group to thrive or survive. A lack of effective response by a transitional population to a new pathogen can lead to the group's disintegration. A stark example of this, historically, is the decline of Native American civilizations with the arrival of European colonists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The transitional response mechanism has been a neglected topic in anthropology until the publication of this book. In a broad selection of nineteen essays by distinguished researchers, the epidemiology and health status of prehistoric, historical, and present day populations in transition are thoroughly explored.

Different models--biomedical, ethnomedical, ecological, and politicoeconomic--are used to illustrate the effects of transition on the health of human populations throughout the world. Swedlund and Armelagos have compiled and arranged these essays into three parts: genetic and evolutionary perspectives; infectious disease and nutrition in temporal perspective; and social epidemiology. Some of the topics studied in the essays include: disease and evolution in Amerindian populations; health and disease in prehistoric transitional peoples; mortality and morbidity consequences of nutritional variation in early child growth; and social support and mortality in post-transition populations. This insightful book will provide a vital perspective for medical anthropologists, development specialists, epidemiologists, and health professionals, as well as for graduate students in related course areas.

List of contents

Preface
Introduction by Alan C. Swedlund and George J. Armelagos
Genetic and Evolutionary Perspectives
Genetics and Change by Derek F. Roberts
Infectious Disease and Natural Selection in Human Populations: A Critical Reexamination by Catharina Svanborg-Eden and Bruce R. Levin
The Detection of Selective Differences in Populations by John A. Barrett
Infectious Disease and Evolution of Human Populations: The Example of South American Forest Tribes by Francis L. Black
Diabetes in Amerindian Populations: The Dogrib Studies by Emöke J.E Szathmary
Transitional Diabetes and Gallstones in Amerindian Peoples: Genes or Environment? by Kenneth M. Weiss
Infectious Disease and Nutrition in Temporal Perspective
Health and Disease in Prehistoric Populations in Transition by George J. Armelagos
Old and New Transitions and Nutrition in Mexico by Luis A. Vargas
Infant Mortality in Massachusetts and the United States in the Nineteenth Century by Alan C. Swedlund
Historical Epidemiology of Smallpox in Kitee, Finland by L.B. Jorde, K. Pitkänen, J.O. Fellman, and A.W. Eriksson
Parasitic Load in South American Tribal Populations by Francisco M. Salzano
Mortality and Morbidity Consequences of Variation in Early Child Growth by Jere D. Haas
Social Epidemiology
Cultural Evolution, Parental Care, and Mortality by Henry C. Harpending, Patricia Draper, and Renee Pennington
Assessing the Impact of Environmental Change, with Special Reference to the Role of Urinary Hormones by G.A. Harrison and D.A. Jenner
Social Support and Mortality in Post-Transition Populations by Stephen J. Kunitz
The Ecology of Kuru by Shirley Lindenbaum
Changing Patterns of Disease in India with Special Reference to Child Mortality by Kailash C. Malhotra
Agricultural Resources, Community Development, and Early Childhood Mortality in Bangladesh by Barry Edmonston
The Education of Women and the Mortality of Children in Bangladesh by Shirley Lindenbaum
Conclusion by Alan C. Swedlund and George J. Armelagos
Bibliography
Index

About the author

ALAN C. SWEDLUND is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He co-authored Demographic Anthropology with George Armelagos. Mr. Swedlund has also written a number of articles which have appeared in the Annual Review of Anthropology, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, and Human Biology. He is currently researching the relationship between social class and health for an upcoming book.

GEORGE J. ARMELAGOS is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Besides being co-author of Demographic Anthropology, he also co-authored Consuming Passion: The Anthropology of Eating and Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. He has also written articles for Science, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and American Anthropologist. Mr. Armelagos served as President of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Product details

• Authors: Armelagos George J., Swedlund Alan C.
• Assisted by: George J. Armelagos (Editor), Alan C. Swedlund (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.10.1990
• EAN: 9780897891752
• ISBN: 978-0-89789-175-2
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Epidemiology & medical statistics, MEDICAL / Biostatistics, MEDICAL / Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Medical statistics, Health and Wellness: Diseases and Conditions