In regards to Medical Anthropology, I am looking to understand the following better:?

Question

Describe what is meant by THE INDIVIDUAL BODY, THE SOCIAL BODY AND THE POLITICAL BODY. What are they and how are they different? Are there websites that go into detail regarding this subject?

Answer 1

You are basically looking at a 3-dimensional framework for seeing or considering the body with the individual, social, and political body as three discursive levels of analysis. Basically, the individual body represents individual lived experience, the social body is characterized by "exchanges of meaning" (think social realm of norms and values), and the political body is characterized by "control and surveillance" (Skultans 1999: 323).

I don't think you'll find a web site that discusses this analytical framework. You'll find what you need to know in the scholarly literature though. You should be able to access many articles online through a college or university library, or you may be able to find them through Google Scholar or another online database. See the Scheper-Hughes and Lock (1987) article cited below for a good review to start with.

Good luck!