Taught course

Medical Anthropology

Institution
Durham University · Department of Anthropology
Qualifications
MSc

Entry requirements

A minimum 2:1 Honours degree from a UK institution (or the overseas equivalent) in a relevant subject.

References play an important part in the admissions process.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The MSc in Medical Anthropology offers a fascinating opportunity to study contemporary global health and wellbeing issues from an anthropological standpoint, considering social and cultural influences, the relationship with the environment and how change and development take place over time. This biosocial approach to the anthropology of health, supported by cutting-edge research in the Department, contributes to a stimulating and fast moving learning environment and draws students from a wide range of backgrounds.

The course provides a strong grounding in the ethnographic approach to the study of health, looking at the impact of culture and custom, as well as the development of health as a political issue and the application of anthropology to modern public health concerns.

Central to the MSc is the development of strong research skills, which you will be encouraged to put into practice, including the opportunity to present your work at the Department’s annual postgraduate conference.

Much of the teaching on the course is carried out by academic researchers from the Department’s highly regarded Anthropology of Health Research Group, which brings together the areas of biological and social anthropology, community medicine, evolutionary medicine, social epidemiology and public health at local, regional and international levels.

The course consists of core and optional modules and a dissertation, undertaken over one year on a full-time basis or over two years part time and features a mixture of interactive lectures, seminars, practical sessions and workshops.

As an anthropology student, you will have access to the Department’s highly respected research laboratories including the Durham Infancy and Sleep Centre, Behavioural and Ecological Physiology Lab, Physical Activity Lab, the South Africa field station and to material culture and skeletal collections.

Course structure

Core modules:

Anthropology of Global Health examines a range of theoretical perspectives and approaches within medical anthropology and shows you how they can be applied to contemporary issues in global health.

Society, Health and Wellbeing sets out the theories and approaches within the social sciences which are applicable to health and identifies the social and political factors relating to health and health inequalities. You will then use the information to examine a range of contemporary health issues, primarily in industrial and post-industrial societies.

The Dissertation gives you the opportunity to carry out your own independent research on a subject of particular interest, applying your learning from the research methods modules. You will be expected to write a literature review, collect data through fieldwork activity, laboratory work or from published sources, conduct data analysis and put together a presentation of your findings.

Plus one from:

  • Statistical Exploration and Reasoning
  • Fieldwork and Interpretation

Examples of optional modules:

  • Advanced Studies in Anthropology, Art, and Experience
  • Advanced Studies in Mediterranean Connections
  • Advanced Studies in the Social Anthropology of Hormones
  • Advanced Studies in the Anthropology of Sport
  • Advanced Studies in Anthropological Skills for Climate Change Survival
  • Advanced Studies in Capitalism in Ruins
  • Advanced Studies in Power and Governance
  • Advanced Studies in Violence and Memory
  • Advanced Studies in the Anthropology of Tobacco
  • Advanced Studies in the Anthropology of Health Inequality
  • Advanced Studies in the Anthropology of Physical Activity for Health
  • Advanced Studies in Evolutionary Medicine: Maternal and Infant Health
  • Advanced Studies in Human Reproductive Ecology
  • Advanced Studies in Development, Conflict and Crisis in the Lower Omo Valley
  • Advanced Studies in the Evolution of Cooperation
  • Advanced Studies in Comparative Cognition and Culture
  • Advanced Studies in the Cultural Evolution of Music
  • Advanced Studies in Technological Primates
  • Advanced Studies in Primates in Peril
  • Advanced Studies in Primates, Predators and the Ecology of Fear
  • Advanced Studies in Homo narrans: evolutionary anthropology of fiction
  • Advanced Studies in Forensic Anthropology
  • Advanced Studies in Palaeoanthropology and Palaeoecology
  • Advanced Studies in the Anthropology of Data and Quantification
  • Advanced Studies in Anthropology of the Body
  • Advanced Studies in Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Livelihoods
  • Advanced Specialised Aspects in Evolutionary Anthropology
  • Advanced Specialised Aspects in Health and Medical Anthropology
  • Advanced Specialised Aspects in Social Anthropology
  • Understanding Society and Culture
  • Interrogating Ethnography
  • Anthropology and Development
  • Society, Energy, Environment and Resilience
  • Thinking Anthropologically
  • Climate and Energy - Intensive Study
  • A language module offered by the Centre for Foreign Language Studies

Information for international students

If you are an international student who does not meet the requirements for direct entry to this degree, you may be eligible to take a pre-Masters pathway programme at the Durham University International Study Centre.

Fees and funding

UK students
£12500
International students
£26500

For further information see the course listing.

Qualification, course duration and attendance options

  • MSc
    full time
    12 months
    • Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
    part time
    24 months
    • Campus-based learningis available for this qualification

Course contact details

Name
Recruitment and Admissions