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Anthropology

<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Reproductive health is another area in which medical anthropologists have made significant contributions by applying their knowledge and methods to real medical practices. Medical anthropologists have studied reproduction in many cultures, analyzing the practices, beliefs, and treatment of those who are pregnant, their children, and their supporting network. Another area of interest has been the ritualization of pregnancy. Robbie Davis <OpenstaxTerm>Floyd</OpenstaxTerm> (2004) has done work on birth as a rite of passage and the role of the midwife in modern birth practices around the world, with a focus on medicalized birth in the United States. Her work highlights ways in which the experience of birth is made more complicated by policy. Midwives are shown to decrease the chances of complications in births, yet in many places they are denied a role in the birthing process. Regardless of patient preference and the documented success of midwives, in most settings in the United States doctors and medical professionals are given preference over midwives. Floyd argues that this preference sometimes puts the patient at risk. In the Western biomedical system, doctors are preferred and imbued with <OpenstaxTerm>authoritative knowledge</OpenstaxTerm>, which is a sense of legitimacy or perceived authenticity.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00003" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/2a35a51d1d71ea186253313739894d792dab2d4f" alt="Bar graph of the pregnancy-related mortality ratio for various demographic groups. The ratio is measured in number of pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births. Rates are as follows: White - 13; Black - 40; Hispanic - 12; Asian/Pacific Islander - 14; American Indian/Alaska Native - 30; All women - 17." mediaType="image/" width="1000" height="660" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1000">
	Figure 17.13 Women of color are much more likely to die in childbirth, according to a 2019 study by the CDC. This disparity is a central focus of the research of Dána-Ain Davis. (credit: “Figure 1: Pregnancy-Related Deaths per 100,000 Live Births by Racial/Ethnic Group, 2007-2016” by US Government Accountability Office (GAO)/flickr, Public Domain)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The work of Dána-Ain <OpenstaxTerm>Davis</OpenstaxTerm> (2019) on medical racism and inequalities in the health care system shows structural violence at work. Based on analysis of statistics and vivid ethnographic examples, Davis found that women of color experienced significantly higher rates of complications, including higher death rates for both mothers and infants, than White mothers and babies. Davis concludes that cultural bias and systemic racism are woven into the US health care system. These are often unacknowledged biases, unrecognized by those perpetrating them in the medical profession. Davis advocates for better policy to address these inequalities and help mothers maintain control over their bodies and the birthing process.
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	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Profiles in Anthropology </OpenstaxNoteTitle> <OpenstaxH3> Dána-Ain Davis 1958- </OpenstaxH3>
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		Personal History: Born in New York City, <a href="https://openstax.org/r/danaaindavis">Dána-Ain Davis</a> earned her PhD from City University of New York. Her work focuses on poverty, policy, and feminism, with a specific interest in urban areas of the United States. She is currently a professor of anthropology at Queens College (part of the City University of New York system). In addition to her teaching, she promotes change in policy and society through activism and her work in numerous political communities.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Before enrolling in college, Davis worked widely in publishing, broadcasting, and nonprofit work. She has worked for the <OpenstaxEm>Village Voice</OpenstaxEm> newspaper, the YWCA, the Village Center for Women, and Bronx AIDS Service. This work grounded her deeply in her community and the issues facing women, and in particular Black women in urban communities such as hers. These skills would aid her as she earned her PhD and began publishing her academic work.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		She is the editor of <OpenstaxEm>Feminist Anthropology</OpenstaxEm>, a new journal focused on feminist anthropological work; sits on the editorial boards for <OpenstaxEm>Cultural Anthropology</OpenstaxEm> and <OpenstaxEm>Women’s’ Studies Quarterly</OpenstaxEm>; and in the fall of 2021 became the chair of her department.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Area of Anthropology: cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, public anthropology, feminist anthropology, urban anthropology
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		Accomplishments in the Field: Davis’s first book, <OpenstaxEm>Battered Black Women and Welfare Reform: Between a Rock and a Hard Place</OpenstaxEm>, was published in 2006 and focuses on the intersection of gender, race, and economic realities. The book also features her work with the theory of <OpenstaxTerm>political economy</OpenstaxTerm>, which looks at how economic conditions, law, and policy affect wealth distribution across groups, in this case how economic conditions disadvantage Black women. Davis then worked on two edited volumes focused on feminism and gender, entitled <OpenstaxEm>Black Genders and Sexualities</OpenstaxEm> (2012) and <OpenstaxEm>Feminist Activist Ethnography: Counterpoints to Neoliberalism in North America</OpenstaxEm> (2013), before publishing <OpenstaxEm>Feminist Ethnography: Thinking through Methodologies, Challenges, and Possibilities</OpenstaxEm> (2016) about feminism anthropology and ethnographic work.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Davis’s next work, <OpenstaxEm>Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth</OpenstaxEm> (2019) fits more squarely into the realm of medical anthropology. This work examines the numerous issues that face women of color in regard to pregnancy and birth. Like her previous work, her latest book intersects with activism, aiming to improve medical and social justice for mothers and children.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Importance of Their Work: Activism sits at the heart of Davis’s work, which has won numerous awards for promoting justice and change. Her academic and activist work has helped inform new policy changes at the local, state, and national levels. Her work informs continuing work in urban studies, feminist theory and practice, reproductive health for women of color, and welfare reform.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
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17.4.3 Reproduction

1 What Is Anthropology?

1.1 The Study of Humanity, or "Anthropology Is Vast"

1.1.1 The Heart of Anthropology: Central Narrative and Commitments

1.1.2 Central Commitment #1: Exploring Sociocultural Diversity

1.1.3 Central Commitment #2: Understanding How Societies Hold Together

1.1.4 Central Commitment #3: Examining the Interdependence of Humans and Nature

1.2 The Four-Field Approach: Four Approaches within the Guiding Narrative

1.2.1 Biological Anthropology

1.2.2 Archaeology

1.2.3 Cultural Anthropology

1.2.4 Linguistic Anthropology

1.2.5 How the Four Fields Work Together: The Example of Race

1.3 Overcoming Ethnocentrism

1.3.1 Enculturation and Ethnocentrism

1.3.2 Primitivism and Orientalism

1.4 Western Bias in Our Assumptions about Humanity

1.4.1 Primitivism and Orientalism in Popular Culture

1.4.2 The Bias of Backwardness

1.5 Holism, Anthropology’s Distinctive Approach

1.5.1 Society as an Integrated Whole

1.5.2 Sources of Contradiction, Conflict, and Change

1.6 Cross-Cultural Comparison and Cultural Relativism

1.6.1 Relativism Is Not “Anything Goes”

1.6.2 Morality, Activism, and Cultural Relativism

1.7 Reaching for an Insider’s Point of View

1.7.1 The Challenge of Representing Others

1.7.2 Collaborative Methods of Representation

1.7.3 Working across Cultures toward Common Goals

1.7.4 Suggested Readings

2 Methods: Cultural and Archaeological

2.1 Archaeological Research Methods

2.1.1 Archaeological Techniques

2.1.2 Archaeological Dating Methods

2.2 Conservation and Naturalism

2.2.1 Early Efforts

2.2.2 Salvage Anthropology

2.2.3 Museum Collections

2.2.4 Interpretation and Voice

2.3 Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.1 The Development of Ethnography and Ethnology

2.3.2 Perspective and Interpretation in Ethnography

2.4 Participant Observation and Interviewing

2.4.1 Participant Observation

2.4.2 Interviewing Informants

2.4.3 Ethical Considerations

2.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

2.5.1 Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Information

2.5.2 Modeling

2.5.3 The Science of Anthropology

2.6 Collections

2.6.1 Archives

2.6.2 Three-Dimensional Collections

2.6.3 Ownership

2.6.4 Suggested Readings

3 Culture Concept Theory: Theories of Cultural Change

3.1 The Homeyness of Culture

3.2 The Winkiness of Culture

3.3 The Elements of Culture

3.3.1 Culture Is What We Make

3.3.2 Culture Is What We Do

3.3.3 Culture Is What We Think

3.4 The Aggregates of Culture

3.4.1 Symbols

3.4.2 Ritual

3.4.3 Social Structure

3.5 Modes of Cultural Analysis

3.5.1 Evolution, Adaptation, and Historical Particularism

3.5.2 Functionalism

3.5.3 Structuralism

3.5.4 Ontology

3.6 The Paradoxes of Culture

3.6.1 Paradox 1: Culture Is Continuous, but It Changes

3.6.2 Paradox 2: Culture Is Bounded but Mobile

3.6.3 Paradox 3: Culture Is Consensual but Contested

3.6.4 Paradox 4: Culture Is Shared, but It Varies

3.6.5 Suggested Readings

4 Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence

4.1 What Is Biological Anthropology?

4.1.1 Looking to the Deep Past

4.1.2 Exploring What It Means to Be Human

4.2 What’s in a Name? The Science of Taxonomy

4.2.1 Defining the Science of Taxonomy

4.2.2 Defining a Species

4.3 It’s All in the Genes! The Foundation of Evolution

4.3.1 The Units of Life

4.3.2 Gregor Mendel and the Laws of Heredity

4.3.3 Mendelian Inheritance in Humans

4.4 Evolution in Action: Past and Present

4.4.1 Early Evolutionists and the Fixity of Species

4.4.2 Charles Darwin’s Role in Changing Views of the Natural World

4.4.3 Understanding Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

4.5 What Is a Primate?

4.5.1 What Is a Primate?

4.5.2 Primate Behavioral Variation

4.5.3 Explaining Primate Success

4.5.4 Primate Classification and Taxonomy

4.6 Origin of and Classification of Primates

4.6.1 Understanding Concepts of Time

4.6.2 Fossils and Dating Methods

Question	Answer
authority derived from perceived legitimacy, dependent on culture.	authoritative knowledge
the connection of economics and politics and how they affect wealth and inequality.	political economy