Hazel Hitson Weidman

Hazel Marie Hitson Weidman (August 3, 1923 - April 22, 2024) was an American medical anthropologist. She was a pioneer in the field whose groundbreaking work left an enduring mark on the intersection of anthropology and medicine. Her career spanned several decades and encompassed significant contributions to medical anthropology and healthcare practices, including a key organizing force behind the formation of the Society for Medical Anthropology.

Early life and education Hazel was born on 3 August 1923 in Taft, California, to parents Frederick "Tex" and Estell (née Griesemer) Hitson. She spent her early years in California where she freely explored the surrounding desert.

In 1943, shortly after graduating from Taft Union High School, Weidman joined the World War II war effort by enlisting in the WAVES. She attended boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training School at Hunter College in Bronx, New York. There she was assigned to the Atlanta Naval Air Station where she received training to instruct pilots in celestial navigation, instrumental flight, and radio navigation. She participated in a 2014 Honor Flight,

Following her naval service and using her G.I. Bill, Weidman attended Northwestern University, majoring in anthropology, graduating in 1951 with a B.S.

In recognition of the career-long service to SMA by Dr. Hazel Weidman, in 2017, they established the Hazel Weidman Award for Exemplary Service, presented to a member every two years who embodies the same career-long service to the field of medical anthropology.

Works

Weidman, Hazel Hitson, “The Self-Concept As a Crucial Link between Social Science and Psychiatric Theory.” Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. Volume 6, no. 2 (1969): 113–16. Weidman, Hazel Hitson, “Falling-out: A Diagnostic and Treatment Problem Viewed from a Transcultural Perspective." Social Science and Medicine. Volume 13, no. B (1979): 95-112. Weidman, Hazel Hitson, and Conference on Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific (1966: East-West Center). “Values, Concept of Self, and Projection: The Burma Case.” Weidman, Hazel, and Janice A Egeland. “A Behavioral Science Perspective in the Comparative Approach to the Delivery of Health Care.” (1972). Weidman, Hazel H. “Research Strategies, Structural Alterations and Clinically Applied Anthropology.” (1982). Weidman, Hazel H. Culture Brokerage and Culture Mediation: Emergent Strategies in Mental Health Care.” (1974). Weidman, Hazel H. “Which Way Anger?: An Inquiry into the Nature of Systematic Relationships between Family Patterns, Basic Personality Disposition, and Forms of Mental Illness.” (1963). Weidman, Hazel Hitson. “Anthropological Theory and the Psychological Function of Belief in Witchcraft.” Essays on Medical Anthropology, (1968). Wittkower, Eric D, and Hazel Hitson Weidman. “Magical Thought and the Integration of Psychoanalytic and Anthropological Theory.” Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Social Science Research Institute, (1968). Weidman, Hazel Hitson. "Guest Editorial: On Getting from "Here" to "There"". Medical Anthropology Newsletter. Volume 8, No. 1 (1976): 2–7. Weidman, Hazel H. "Origins: Reflections on the History of the SMA and Its Official Publication". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Volume 17, No. 5 (1986):115–124.