Final answer:
The background of theorists like Angela Garcia and Beatrice Medicine helps shape their research areas and approaches within medical anthropology, leading to significant works on topics like inequality, violence, feminism, and cultural representations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The background of a theorist can greatly influence their area of study and the perspective they bring to their work. In the realm of medical anthropology, one example of this is Angela Garcia, a scholar from a small town along the Mexican border. Influenced by her upbringing, she went on to focus on areas where political and cultural factors overlap, leading to inequality and violence, and how these factors intersect with medicine, postcolonial theory, and feminism. Her studies took her to the University of California, Berkeley, and subsequently to Harvard University, where she obtained her PhD and published significant work on heroin addiction among Hispanic populations in New Mexico.
Another scholar, Beatrice Medicine, had a different background that informed her research on cultural representations and misunderstandings. For instance, her study on Scandinavian revivalists and their adoption of Native American traditions demonstrates the importance of background in shaping academic pursuits and research outcomes.
Understanding the background of theorists like Garcia and Medicine is crucial in grasping the full context of their work and appreciating the unique insights they bring to their respective fields.