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Book Cover
Book
Author Kunitz, Stephen J.

Title Disease and social diversity : the European impact on the health of non-Europeans / Stephen J. Kunitz
Published New York : Oxford University Press, 1994

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  614.4295 Kun/Das  AVAILABLE
Description viii, 209 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Contents 1. Natural History and Local History -- 2. Death in the Fourth World -- 3. Historical and Contemporary Mortality Patterns in Polynesia -- 4. Settler Capitalism and the State in Australia -- 5. The Impact of Sociocultural Differences on Health / Stephen J. Kunitz and Jerrold E. Levy -- 6. The Health Consequences of Modernization / Stephen J. Kunitz and Jerrold E. Levy -- 7. Conclusion -- Appendix 2-1. The Size and Definition of Indigenous Populations -- Appendix 3-1. Estimates of Various Polynesian Populations, 1790s to 1980s -- Appendix 6-1. Data and Methods for Regional Analyses
Summary Public health specialists, epidemiologists, medical anthropologists, sociologists, and physicians are sure to gain insight from the theory and evidence presented in this well-researched work
This exploratory work examines the impact of European contact on the health of indigenous peoples of North America, Polynesia and Australia. The significant findings reveal that effects were widely varied, depending on the specific policies of the Europeans and on the culture and social organization of the indigenous peoples themselves. In this unique volume, Kunitz argues that in order to understand diseases in populations, it is first necessary to recognize the social, political, and cultural context as well as the biology of the disease. He demonstrates how local, historical knowledge of time and place is crucial to comprehending the morbidity and mortality of each disease. Case studies are used to illustrate such points as the importance of macro-social institutional forces, such as federalism, as well as micro-social forces, such as gender status in particular societies
Analysis North America
Public health
Aborigines
Australia overseas comparisons
Communicable diseases
Indigenous populations
Polynesia
Population decline
United States
Notes Includes index and bibliographical references
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Copy 2 - donation from Tom Austen Brown collection
Subject Cross-cultural studies.
Epidemiology -- North America -- History.
Epidemiology -- Oceania -- History.
First contact of aboriginal peoples with Westerners -- Health aspects -- North America.
First contact of aboriginal peoples with Westerners -- Health aspects -- Oceania.
Indigenous peoples -- Health and hygiene -- North America.
Indigenous peoples -- Health and hygiene -- Oceania.
Disease Outbreaks.
Cross-Cultural Comparison.
Cross-Cultural Comparison.
Disease Outbreaks.
SUBJECT North America. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D009656
Pacific Islands. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D010139
North America. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D009656
Pacific Islands. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D010139
LC no. 93035498
ISBN 0195085302 (acid-free paper)
0195108698 (paperback)