Questioning our principles: Anthropological contributions to ethical dilemmas in clinical practice

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 123-134

  Sargent, Carolyn ^a   Smith Morris, Carolyn ^a  

^a SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ANTHROPOLOGY; ARTIFICIAL VENTILATION; ATTITUDE TO DEATH; BEHAVIOR; BENEFICENCE; BIOETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS; CULTURAL FACTOR; DECISION MAKING; ETHICS; HUMAN; INFORMED CONSENT; INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION; INTESTINE OBSTRUCTION; MEDICAL ETHICS; MENTAL CAPACITY; MORALITY; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; REVIEW; SOCIAL JUSTICE; TREATMENT REFUSAL; UNITED STATES; VERBAL COMMUNICATION; VIOLENCE;

BIOETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS;

ANTHROPOLOGY; ATTITUDE TO DEATH; BENEFICENCE; CHOICE BEHAVIOR; CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS; DECISION MAKING; ETHICS CONSULTATION; ETHICS, CLINICAL; HUMANS; INFORMED CONSENT; INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION; MENTAL COMPETENCY; MORAL OBLIGATIONS; NARRATION; NEGOTIATING; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; POWER (PSYCHOLOGY); RESPIRATION, ARTIFICIAL; SOCIAL JUSTICE; TREATMENT REFUSAL; TRUTH DISCLOSURE; UNITED STATES; VIOLENCE;

EID: 33644853737     PISSN: 09631801     EISSN: 14692147     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0963180106060154     Document Type: Review

References (48)

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24. (Korbin J. Child Abuse and Neglect: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1984).
25. The on-going debate regarding female genital cutting continues this theme; some scholars argue that FGC represents child abuse, the mutilation of a child's body without her consent, while others contend that as a normative cultural practice, it should not be categorized as "abusive" (Shell-Duncan B, Hernlund Y, eds. Female "Circumcision" in Africa. Boulder and London: Lynn Reiner Publishers; 2000).
26. Herdt's analysis of masculinity rituals among the Sambia of Highland New Guinea describes the local rationale for ritualized oral sex between older men and young boys as part of male initiations (Herdt G. Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1982). This practice is considered requisite for boys to become men, although a Euro-American assessment might classify the tradition as coercive or a form of pedophilia. Also in New Guinea, ethnographers have documented "gang rape" of women who have breached a taboo and seen the interior of the "men's house" or have witnessed rituals at which women's presence is prohibited. This "punishment" of women is legitimized as a response to seriously inappropriate behavior. The concept of rape does exist, but this particular scenario, culminating in forced sex between a group of men and an unwilling woman, would not be defined as such.
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40. See note 3, Helman 2000:96.
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42. Hoffmaster B. Bioethics in Social Context. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 2001.
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44. See note 1, Kleinman 1980:58.
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46. For an insightful discussion of this history see Stevens MLT. Bioethics in America: Origins and Cultural Politics. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2000.
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48. also see note 23, Marshall 1992:53.