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A medical anthropology blog exploring how politics, economics and society influence and are influenced by medicine.
Latest from the Blog
The Origin of the High-Five
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes I currently have the infamous coronavirus and am quarantining in my small apartment on the island of Tenerife. It’s funny what this pandemic has taught us and what we have become more acutely aware of. Recently, I have taken a fascination with the amount of information we…
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I Speak, Therefore I Am
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes Guañac, chamato, coranGuanche: People, woman, man Wominjeka!Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people of Kulin Nation – the traditional owners of Melbourne: Hello! Pehea ‘oe?Hawaiian: How are you? Wie heisst du?German: What is your name? ¿Cuántos años tienes?Spanish: How old are you? Parles-tu anglais?French: Do you speak English?…
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The Self
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes Prologue: I wrote this piece late at night during the first month that I moved to Germany to play professional soccer after graduating college. I came across this piece during my flight home to Australia after being abroad for 5 years and 2 years without returning home at all. This…
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One Small Step for Mankind and One Unpredictable Leap for Nantucket
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes Imagine walking through a field filled with landmines. Every step is a step into an unknown immediate future – life or death. This is the reality for many Koreans who tread the North and South Korean border, specifically the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ Zone), trying to extract…
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Why isn’t there an FDA for AI?
By Beattie Goad Estimated reading time: 5 mins In this modern day, or should I say technological day, the computational code of binary 1’s and 0’s dictates our every move more than we think. We are giving more and more power to a bunch of numbers as each day passes, especially in areas such as…
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Why automated cars are not a simple “sit back and relax” solution
Written by Beattie Goad, Audio Interview with David Brodbeck, Tim Duee and Grace Babb Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes Check out the audio interview here: https://soundcloud.com/beattie-goad/automated-cars-interview-bg Technology such as virtual reality therapy, Apple iPhone watches and interacting home machines such as Alexa, seem to be the golden ticket to a better life. Or so it…
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Take us closer to death and we might finally see how we are all one
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes There are many ways to talk about climate change, from the extreme angle in which one has to prove its existence to the intricate science behind its danger. I thought I would tackle a very unique angle and explore how climate change is related to the socially…
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PTSD therapy 1917 to 2021: how far have we come?
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes It is the year 1917 and Billy Prior has been issued to be sent home to England after suspected pacifism and shell shock in the opening section of Pat Barker’s slightly factual fictional novel, Regeneration (Barker, 1991). He is sent to the hands of therapist WHR Rivers,…
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Masks Hide More than just a Mouth and Nose
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes I had the idea of writing about the evolution of masks back in May 2020 for a final paper in one of my anthropology classes. Ironically, the notion of masks as an evolving symbol in society is still as poignant as it was a whole year ago.…
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The Paradox in Defining Feminism in a Robotic Era
By Beattie Goad Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes Haruto, a one metre tall, male robot wheels up towards Sara. Haruto is kind, endearing, helpful and to a certain extent, submissive. Sara is a 30 year old Japanese married woman with one son and the familial and societal expectation of having another. Sara: Haruto, can you…
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Answers Lie in MedAnthro 
YES we need local and federal regulations and oversight to stop AI from oppressing vulnerable communities!