Amy Cooper, Ph.D.
Associate Chair
Associate Professor
Courses Taught
Cultural Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Global Mental Health, Introduction to Anthropology
Education
Ph.D., The University of Chicago
M.A., The University of Chicago
B.S., Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service
Research Interests
My examines medical systems as sites of political struggle and transformation. As a
cultural and medical anthropologist I use qualitative research methods such as ethnography
to understand the power dynamics of medical encounters, cultural constructions of
health and illness, mental health and psychiatric practice, and medical activism.
For over fifteen years, I have conducted ethnographic research on the meaning of health
and health care in urban Venezuela, Cuba, and the United States. My first book State
of Health: Pleasure and Politics in Venezuelan Health Care under Ch谩vez is available
from the University of California Press and mainstream booksellers. My second book
project examines how biomedicine鈥檚 colonial legacy has systemically limited efforts
to promote health and develops evidence-based alternatives to conceptualizing health
that expand biomedical paradigms.
For more information about my research and teaching please see my personal webpage:
click .
On sabbatical Spring 2023
Publications and Media Placements
For a complete list of publications and media placements please click .
Andaya, Elise and Amy Cooper. (Under revision). 鈥淩esilience: On Living Through the
End Times.鈥�
Ansari, David and Amy Cooper. (2022). Introduction to Special Issue: Therapeutic Apprenticeship.
Special Issue, 鈥淭herapeutic Apprenticeship,鈥� Medicine Anthropology Theory 9(1): 1-12 (open access)
Cooper, Amy and Oscar Feo. (2022). The Rise and Fall of Barrio Adentro. NACLA 鈥� Report on the Americas 54(1): 74-78.
Cooper, Amy. (2020). Weathering the Coronavirus in Venezuela. NACLA 鈥� Report on the Americas 52(3): 241-244.
Cooper, Amy. (2019). State of Health: Pleasure and Politics in Venezuelan Health Care under Ch谩vez. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cooper, Amy and Lisa McGee (2017). 鈥淎t Such a Good School, Everybody Needs it鈥�: Contested
Meanings of Prescription Stimulant Use in College Academics. Ethos 45(3): 289-313
Cooper, Amy. (2017). Moving medicine 鈥淚nside the neighborhood鈥�: The political symbolism
of place in Venezuelan public health. Special Issue, 鈥淭herapeutic Landscapes,鈥� Medicine Anthropology Theory 4(1): 20-45 (open access).
Cooper, Amy (2015). The Doctor鈥檚 Political Body: Doctor-Patient Interactions and Political
Belonging in Venezuelan Neighborhood Clinics. American Ethnologist 42: 459-474.
Cooper, Amy (2015). What does health activism mean in Venezuela鈥檚 public health system?
Understanding community health work in political and cultural context. Special issue,
鈥淐ommunity health workers and social change,鈥� Annals of Anthropological Practice 39: 58-72.
Cooper, Amy (2015). Time Seizures and the Self: Institutional Temporalities and Self
Preservation among Homeless Women. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 39(1): 162-185.
Cooper, Amy, Robert Samet, and Naomi Schiller, Eds. (2015). Protests and Polarization in Venezuela After Ch谩vez. Field Sites 鈥� Hot Spots. Cultural Anthropology Online (open access).