ANTH 2280

This class was certainly a pleasant experience, though not what I expected. I imagined Medical Anthropology would involve studying how different cultures around the world and throughout history have thought about/practiced health care and maybe how that reflects other aspects of their social structures and values. Instead, this course seemed to be centered around convincing students that Western medicine is not any better than, like, folk traditions. I remain unconvinced. Still, there was a lot to like about this class. We talked about issues like the meanings of health and illness, the social conceptions of the body, the impact of violence and inequality on different demographics’ health outcomes, and the ethics of caregiving. These are important issues, especially for anyone who is pre-med.

Professor Tidey is from the Netherlands, and she brings that stereotypically European stern-but-nice sensibility to classes. To be honest, I like her. She began every class by playing a song through YouTube on the projector, which was fun. After classes went online, she basically gave full credit for whatever you turned it for every assignment except the final paper. I found that extremely helpful and considerate of her.

The class was fairly easy. The workload was mild to moderate. In the end, I would recommend this class.

For someone who isn't a premed or an anthropology major, this course was rather interesting in introducing a lot of real-world medical situations across the world. You got to learn a lot about society and the way that demographics affect one's medical situation or are susceptible to certain diseases/illnesses. Professor Tidey made this course rather carefree with her token system (where you could exchange a token to regain an incorrect quiz question or replace a written assignment (only applies to some)). The fact the course had quizzes instead of exams made it way less stressful than other courses I was taking at the time. The professor is a really nice person and really cares for her students and how they were doing, constantly asking students to tell her their opinions (something that I appreciated in the transition to an online course). I enjoyed the course in the way it was taught, who taught it, and the content that was given.

Professor Tidey is really caring for her students and has a lot of experience in Medical Anthropology. Some of the readings can be dense, so you should try your best and ask your TA during discussion if you don't understand anything. The assignments are fairly easy, you have to write 6 200-300 word essays throughout the semester on readings you didn't understand, and there's a final paper due that you work out throughout the semester. This class is good for pre-med students who want to learn other forms of medicine/treatments besides biomedicine.

This class is awesome! It is interesting and easy. Professor Tidey is so nice and understanding. I recommend this class to anyone who is looking for an easy class that is actually interesting. Zach Mckeeby was my TA and he was awesome too!

(****Class ****)
We read "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" for the Medical Anthro class and that was only for about a couple of weeks. Overall it was a good book and there was really great discussions about the clash between western and non-western views on medicine. Honestly wished we had more content and lectures with the book but the rest of the class, we used scholarly articles and other books. Once we got into the topics of racism in obstetrics and cultural norms about medicine, then the lectures became really interesting. some lectures were pretty dry but Silvia is an overall an AMAZING professor and she keeps mostly engaged.

(****Professor*****)
Silvia talks a lot about her cultural differences between the Netherlands and the US which is such an interesting topic to talk about and she gives you a lot of extra credit points! If you listen about her travelling experience in South Asia, it is actually so cool. Her major research is about transgender women and she even talks about it in one of the lectures. I also broke my laptop during the finals and she worked with what we had and offered to give me the paper copy --> super helpful!! Can't say enough good things about her.

(****Discussion and Overall Thought ****)
The book was fine but there were a lot of hard readings. Half of the time I didn't understand it nor had the time to break down what was said. Discussion and Lecture was great because they reviewed and even elaborated what was assigned in the reading.
Discussion was really dry but our TA tried his best to keep us engaged! We even convinced him to lead a discussion outside twice in the amphitheater. Really cool guy; awesome reviews because he just loved talking about museums all the time. If you don't have a very participating group, then you will probably have a very boring discussion.
There was only a midterm and a final and tbh it was both were really hard but totally doable if you understand the concepts that were discussed in lecture.

This is the best and easiest class you will ever take. I barely had to study or prepare to get an A. Just showing up to class and taking in what Tidey is saying is enough- and its really interesting stuff too. There were two tests and one paper that was done over the whole course of the semester, so really it was no work at all. This class was amazing and you should take it.

Medical Anthropology was a very enjoyable class with Professor Tidey. I highly recommend the course if you are planning on majoring in anything that requires having interactions with different cultures. Professor Tidey made the class worth while by starting the class with a song that she picked among submitted songs from the students (whatever song was played, the student who submitted that song got an extra point added to their final grade). There is many readings to complete, many up to 30-40 pages of reading.

Professor Tidey is a very sweet professor who has also conducted interesting medical anthropological world that will surely get everyone hooked into this topic from the first lecture. While there is a kernel of truth that her exam questions can be unfair since there can be various interpretations of a reading (happened on the midterm), here is one theme of the class summarized in one sentence; biomedicine/rationality is not superior in healthcare and other social aspects must be taken into account. With this underlying theme in mind, you should be able to catch on to what Tidey wants you to take away

Professor Tidey teaches this class wonderfully! She is very interested in Medical Anthropology and tells relatable stories regarding the topic at hand. She assigns very interesting readings, but they can be pretty lengthy at times; well it is an Anthropology course. I believe this was her first time teaching this course and I would say that she did a wonderful job. The TA that I had (Erin Jordan) was amazing and I would definitely take this class again; it has changed my mind on what matters to me.