mid-1950, s, was the solution to the problem of kuru -a in some cases, be harmful to the woman's health. On disease confined to the women and children of the South a more general level, cultural beliefs about what Fore people of New Guinea. It was found to be due to constitutes beauty(in most cases, conceptions of ideal a 'slow virus'(one which lies dormant in the body female beauty associated with appeal to males)can also months or years, before causing the disease)-in the result in a variety of disabilities- as any glance through victims brain, and to be transmitted by ritual the history of female costume will reveal cannibalism practised only by female kin of the decease One strand of anthropological research into the origin and their children. Anthropologists found that the of disease seems to indicate how cultural expectations disease first made its appearance at roughly the same can be pathogenic to certain individuals. In these people, time that the South Fore women borrowed the practice attempts to meet cultural norms of prestige, of ritual cannibalism from nearby tribes ccomplishment and social behaviour as measured by More recent studies on kinship and marital p he size of their car, or the size of their yams- may well especially among groups that practise endogamy -have prove dangerous to their health. This is case in the so- hed light on the transmission of recessive, inherited called"Type A personality, common in Western societ diseases- such as thalassaemia, haemophilia, or Tay. and first described by two cardiologists, Friedman and Sachs disease. Similarly, studies of migrations, of residential patterns, and of mass public rituals and competitive, preoccupied with deadlines, chronically pilgrimages, have all helped researchers understand how impatient, and in a constant struggle to achieve an fectious diseases, and the vectors of parasitic diseases, unlimited number of goals in as short a time as possible. an spread throughout a population. The large body of Epidemiological studies indicate that those with this work on nutritional anthropology has also contributed form of behaviour are much more likely to get coronary to understanding why-in the presence of adequate sources of nutrition in the environment.there may be Western industrial, urban society rewards this pathogenic ver-or under-nutrition in certain groups of people In behaviour, and"Type a personalities'are common particular, studies of cultural definitions of what among captains of industry, top managers, and leading constitutes'food(as opposed to 'non-food), of specific academics and professionals Can one, therefore, regard food taboos, and of the various humoural orhot-cold this type of behaviour as a Western culture-bound systems of food classification- all reveal that people disorder created and reinforced by the values of our often choose what, how, and when to eat on grounds society? Some of the evidence for this view is briefly that are not nutritional but cultural. Many of these summarized in my book, Culture, Health and lness nutritional studies reveal the multi-causal origin of many One further example of the pathogeniceffect of cultural rms of malnutrition. For example, the high incidence beliefs(also called the nocebo effect"), is the well- of rickets and osteomalacia among Asian women living described"voodoo death'or'magical death, reported in Britain has been blamed on a number of factors. from many parts of the world. Further studies of this cluding: a deficiency of Vitamin D in their vegetarian phenomenon will probably also shed light on a wider diet, the phytic acid content of chapattis which range of conditions with a strong social component apparently prevents absorption of calcium, certain the large number of psychosomatic disorders, for genetic factors, and a lack of ultra-violet light on the skin- due to types of female dress that cover large areas of the body surface, the seclusion of Asian at Anthropology and primary care home for much of the day, and poor, inner city housing (due in turn to poverty, discrimination, and The consultation between doctor and patient in primary care, is an area well searched by psychologists and sociologists. Most have Anthropological research has also shed light on seen it as the main interface between lay and medical on the cluster of meanings associated with articularly, perspectives on ill-health in our culture. The pure medical ohol abuse and smoking behaviour their use in perspective has been to see the consultation as a particular culture, and their relationship to gender roles problematic, due to 'miscommunication' and non and expectations. Some work has also been done on how compliance with medical instructions-to see it,in cultures differentiate between ' normal, socially other words, as a clash between medical truth and" lay sanctioned drinking(such as that at wakes, weddings health beliefs In most cases, these studies view the private, isolated event, usual behaviour. More recently, there has been considerable only two or three individuals. Medical anthropologists, research on the subcultures of urban drug addicts, and however brought a more complex perspective to their stereotyped world-view which divides those around the study of the consultation. They have pointed out them into'hustlers'and'squares'. For those working in for example, that this interaction is embedded in a wider ne area of alcohol or drug abuse, some of this research value system and in a particular social context. In rovides a useful starting point for the design of different ddition, both parties carry with them a unique'internal types of rehabilitation programmes. contextof prior experience education, beliefs, social The considerable literature on cultural conceptions and cultural background. Both 'innerand outer' of body image- particularly the perception of the body, contexts of the consultation help determine what is said and its changes, through socially-derived categories ow it is said, and how it is heard and interpreted.It is of key value to clinicians. It helps explain how people has also been pointed out that medical consultations interpret(and describe)subjective physical symptoms, a Western form of divination and treatment ritual their attitudes to surgical operations and certain medical which the chaos of subjective symptoms is organized treatments, as well as attitudes to pregnancy, birth and into the diagnostic categories of modern medicine, and menstruation. In the case of pregnancy, studies of a which is replete with the multi- vocal symbols of healing group,'s ethnoanatomy and ethnophysiology can reveal power and legitimacy the white coat, the stethoscope, he origin of customs or beliefs that may be dangerous the examination couch, the diplomas on the wall. In this to the pregnant woman, or to her unborn child. Attitudes setting, the prescription becomes a gift'(a la Marcel to menstruation, and taboos associated with it, may also, Mauss), cementing the relationship between healer and