The Health Consequences of 'Modernisation': Evidence from Circumpolar Peoples

by Roy J. Shephard, Andris Rode

Overview

In this book, the authors assess the impact of "modernization" on various populations in the circumpolar regions. They examine the adaptations shown culturally, behaviorally, and physically by the indigenous peoples, and discuss the effect of changes in habitual activity, diet, and general life style due to more urban living patterns on body composition, pulmonary function and susceptibility to disease.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521474016
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/23/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology , #17
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.37(h) x 0.87(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. The circumpolar habitat and its peoples - traditional lifestyle and early research findings; 2. Concept of the International Biological Programme Human Adaptability Project and IBP studies of circumpolar peoples; 3. Changes in social structure and behaviour; 4. Secular trends in diet, metabolism and body composition; 5. Secular trends in physical fitness and cold tolerance; 6. Secular trends in lung function and respiratory disease; 7. Secular trends in growth and development; 8. Current health status; 9. Lessons from the Arctic; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"The book is clearly written and well referenced, with numerous tables and charts used to display the biological data. Of interest to historians of science as well as human biologists and anthropologists." Choice

"...the authors have a fine and subtle feel for the arctic. Their constant flashes of cultural insight do a lot to enligten the dense biological data. I am asking my own graduate students to use this book as one model of how to conceptualize anthropologically informed human biology." A. Theodore Steegmann Jr., American Anthropologist

"The book's strength in physiological topics reflects the authors' background and experience. Moreover, there is much in this book that is useful for any health care practitioner and researcher with an interest in the North. It is a convenient, single-source introduction to the Inuit and their health status, with a comprehensive bibliography." Transcultural Psychiatry

From the Publisher