Title: What does holism mean in anthropological terms? - Quora
Headings: What does holism mean in anthropological terms?
What does holism mean in anthropological terms?
Roger H Werner
J.t. Thacker
BIKORIMANA VALENS

Content: Medical Anthropologists are interested in seeing why 'morning sickness' and nausea during pregnancy may have actually been evolutionarily beneficial to protect the baby and mother from ingesting harmful things in this vulnerable time. This can lead to more successful treatments than simply stopping the nausea. Instead of prescribing them medicine to get rid of nausea (which may actually cause them to ingest something harmful to themselves or their baby) they may suggest observing when they get nausea and changing their diet/lifestyle accordingly. Thus avoiding the nausea and potentially harmful substances. Thomas Costa
, Studied at university
Answered 3 years ago · Author has 147 answers and 79.6K answer views
Originally Answered: What is meant by a "holistic approach" in anthropology? It means that when you study an aspect of a culture, you do not treat that aspect as an isolated thing, but rather, you put it in context of the whole cultural system. This is very important, as aspects or dimensions of societies are not closed systems but are integrated in others. So for example economics, religion, kinship structure and everything else are embedded in each other. To not take a holistic approach can over emphasise some part of a culture, making it more prominent than it actually is.