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Medical anthropology, established as a branch of cultural anthropology in the late 1970s, has traditionally criticized biomedicine and public health in alignment with disciplines such as history, sociology, philosophy, and other disciplines. Its primary objective has been to emphasize the importance of illnesses (patients' lived experiences) in contrast to diseases (biological phenomena). However, since the 2000s, cultural anthropology has profoundly reflected on the humanities’ tendency to delegate the study of nature and science to the natural sciences, focusing solely on their cultural meanings. Considering the current climate change situation, this entanglement of nature and culture has become a crucial area of exploration. This broader perspective, often referred to as the “ontological turn,” suggests that medical anthropology must extend beyond its traditional critiques of biomedicine and public health to address these intertwined dimensions.
 
This book aims to update medical anthropological studies in Japan based on STS (Science, technology and society) -related medical anthropology. Part 1, titled “Towards a Medical Anthropology as Para Critique,” begins by tracing the history of the anthropology of infectious diseases and identifying ongoing ontological investigations in the field. In medical anthropological research on infectious diseases, as exemplified by Paul Farmer’s work, the focus is not merely on critiquing the overarching power of biomedicine and public health but also on examining which biomedical and public health practices should be implemented. This approach, referred to as “para-medical critique,” emphasizes the pursuit of better living alongside biomedicine and public health and accepts while acknowledging the shared responsibility of navigating contemporary challenges. To concretize this “para-medical critique,” the first part examines medical practices in Southern Ghana. Chapter 2 delineates the experience of tuberculosis through the life story of a woman in her 50s, while Chapter 3 investigates river blindness control programs and infant vaccination from nurses’ perspectives. These discussions contribute in developing a theoretical framework that conceptualizes biomedicine as a dispersed network of people and technologies, drawing on Foucault's notions of milieu and dispositif.
 
Part 2, “Living through this pandemic,” discusses the experience of COVID-19 in Japan. Chapters 4 through 8, written separately, are arranged chronologically. The author initially aimed to understand Japanese public health experts in cultural anthropology, which seeks to understand others. He also sought to take responsibility as a thinker living in the same era, contributing by weaving words to slow down the spread of the infection. Gradually, the discussion became more theoretical, with the latter chapters exploring the potential of Bruno Latour’s concept of “terrestrial” to describe the relationship between humans and viruses, especially in contemporary urban settings. The author has since continued to expand on this theoretical direction.
 

(Written by HAMADA Akinori, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2024)