Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

Marginalization and related articulations comes across strongly in this week's readings. Dutta (2008) writes marginalization as" being at the periphery of a dominant system and that marginalization is embodied in the position of being under, of being silenced, of being without a voice and of being without resources". Marginalization can be caused by poverty, ignorance, location, access, positionality in the societal and economic system (pecking order!!) and in God's own country, insurance!!  From a critical cultural perspective, marginalization occurs from basic structural deprivations, created and sustained by structural inequities and unequal distribution at resources, further created and sustained by unhealthy practices which are in turn created and sustained by those in positions of power (Dutta, 2008). True, and I feel this is ingrained in our lives. The principle and declaration of human rights (1948) say "all human beings are equal...etc...". There ca...

This week's readings has many points to start a discussion. Many notable ones talk of pain as a human experience and situated in the body. Indeed, how do we manifest pain or is pain itself a manifestation? The health communication concern and the concern of the many health organizations in the US it to create constructs around it, quantify it, isolate it and advertise and sell treatment for it, the fancy "disorders" patented under exotic names. This is what Kleinman et.al., (1992) call the political economic transformation of pain and its treatment. I found myself wondering, of course we all agree that converting socio-somatic processes into biological terminology is reductionist but hasn't that been the enterprise of much of the positivist scholars and yet alive and kicking now in NSF funding criteria and erstwhile "Bush" science (St. Pierrie, 2006). My primary education being in Physics and Management, I am very amused to see all these scholars studying hu...