Dissertation Research: Ethnographic Study of Biomedical and Cultural Models in Guadalajara, Mexico

9903978 Rubel/ Crowley本项目支持一位来自欧文市加州大学的人类学学生的论文研究，研究墨西哥瓜达拉哈拉器官移植的文化意义。 该项目将研究如何在这个墨西哥地区体现身体的文化建设愿景，它意味着什么一般的墨西哥文化价值观，这些价值观与美国的价值观有何不同，许多医学专家都受过训练，以及这些价值观在实践中如何受到墨西哥现有社会和经济不平等的影响（最显著的区别是，在美国，移植器官往往来自脑死亡的尸体，而在墨西哥，家庭被视为适当的来源）。 使用参与式观察，访谈，共识建模，医院记录的统计分析和流行媒体的文本分析，学生将专注于移植患者，家庭，医院工作人员在三个不同的医院，一个专注于穷人，中产阶级，和更富裕的患者。 这项研究将促进我们对不同文化如何构建身体形象的理解，以及这些形象如何被生物医学理论塑造，以及这些问题如何有助于我们理解现代性作为一个概念及其在不同文化背景下的表达。此外，该项目还支持培训一名年轻的社会科学家，并增进我们对世界这一重要领域的了解。

9903978Rubel / Crowley This project supports the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of California at Irvine, studying the cultural meanings of organ transplantation in Guadalajara, Mexico. The project will examine how culturally construction visions of the body are exemplified in this Mexican location, what general Mexican cultural values it implies, how these differ from the values in the US, where many of the medical specialists have trained, and how these values in practice are influenced by the existing social and economic inequalities in Mexico (the most striking difference is that in the US transplant organs tend to be derived from brain-dead cadavers, while in Mexico family are seen as the appropriate source). Using participant observation, interviewing, consensus modeling, statistical analysis of hospital records, and textual analysis of popular media, the student will focus on transplant patients, family, hospital staff in three different hospitals, one focusing on poor, middle class, and more wealthy patients. This research will advance our understanding of how different cultures construct images of the body, and how these images are shaped by biomedical theory, and how these issues contribute to our understanding of modernity as a concept and its expression in different cultural settings. In addition the project supports the training of a young social scientist, and advances our knowledge of this important area of the world.