MA Medical Anthropology and Intensive Language

Start of programme: September

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Who is this programme for?:

• Intercalating medical students, or students intending to pursue a medical degree.  
• Students with a degree in the social sciences or humanities wishing to acquire a broad understanding of medical anthropology with reference to Asia or Africa, but also including other parts of the world
• People with professional experience in medical practice who have an interest in cross-cultural understandings of health and illness.  
• Students with a degree in social anthropology wishing to pursue more specialist topics in the anthropology of medicine.  
• Students without a previous degree in Anthropology looking for an MA conversion degree to serve as a qualification for pursuing a further research degree in anthropology
• The two-year intensive language pathway is directed at students who want to engage with a country in a professional as well as academic way, as the intensive language courses will enable them to reach a near proficient knowledge of the language.

As one might expect of study at SOAS, our programme is unique in that we take a cultural and phenomenological approach to the anthropology of medicine.  That is, we stress a truly cross-cultural method, one which unites all medical systems in a unified comparative perspective.  This allows students to grasp the underlying principles and questions common to all therapeutic systems.  Given the diversity of the School’s courses, students may choose options which strengthen either the humanities or the development studies aspects of their interests.  

It can also be taken with an intensive language pathway over two years, therefore making this programme unique in Europe.

The Japanese pathway is available for students who have an intermediate level of Japanese. Students will be required to take a placement exam in the week before classes begin in order to determine if their level is suitable. Please contact Professor Drew Gerstle (ag4@soas.ac.uk) for further information.

The Korean pathway is designed for beginner learners of Korean. Students with prior knowledge of Korean are advised to contact the programme convenor, Dr Anders Karlsson (ak49@soas.ac.uk). Students will take four course units in the Korean language, one of them at a Korean university during the summer after year 1.

The Arabic pathway is designed for beginner learners of Arabic. Students will take four units of Arabic, one of them at the Qasid Institute in Jordan or another partner institution during the summer after year 1. Programme convenor: Dr Mohamed Said (ms15@soas.ac.uk)

Programme Overview

The programme consists of 315 credits in total: 255 credits of modules and a dissertation of 10,000 words at 60 credits.  180 credits will be taken in the Deprtment of Anthropology and Sociology; 135 credits, in the Intensive Lanuguage specific discipline. 

The Programme can be taken as a full-time study over 2 years or part-time study over 4 years.

All students are expected to take the core and compulsory modules listed below, except for students with a previous Anthropology degree, who are not required to take the Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology module but may wish to select this as part of their 180 credits from the options lists.

All students must audit the compulsory module, Ethnographic Research Methods. This will not count towards the 315 credits.  Students will be expected to attend only lectures and do not attend seminars or submit any assessments.  Students may choose to take this module (worth 15 credits) as part of their 180 credits from the option lists.

All students are required to take 15 credits from list A.

The remaining credits can be selected from the relevant lists in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology or relevant options from other departments module.  See below for a detailed programme structure.

Programme Detail

FULL-TIME STUDY OVER 2 YEARS

Year One

In the first year students without a previous Anthropology Degree will take 165 credits - 60 in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology; 105 in the Intensive Language discipline. Students with a previous Anthropology Degree will take 150 credits, 45 in Department of Anthropology and 105 in the Intensive Language discipline.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

COMPULSORY MODULES

All students are required to audit the Ethnographic Research Methods module. This will not count towards your 180 credits. Students without a previous Anthropology Degre are required to take the compulsory module, Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology, worth 30 credits.

CORE MODULE

All students must take the core module, Medical Anthropology in Global Perspective, worth 30 credits.

OPTIONAL MODULES

Students without a previous Anthropology Degree are not required to complete any optional module during their first year. Students with a previous Anthropology Degree must select 15 credits from List A. The additional 15 credits can be selected from either List A or List B.

List A

Anthropology and Sociology

Development Studies

List B

Anthropology and Sociology

INTENSIVE LANGUAGE DISCIPLINE

60 credits must be selected from the Intensive Language discipline (see below). Over the summer period, students will study abroad in their specialised country of discipline. This will count for 45 credits.

ARABIC

https://www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-arabic/

JAPANESE

https://www.soas.ac.uk/japankorea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-japanese/

KOREAN

KOREAN - https://www.soas.ac.uk/japankorea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-korean/

SOUTHEAST ASIAN LANGUAGES

https://www.soas.ac.uk/sea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-south-east-asian-languages/

SWAHILI

https://www.soas.ac.uk/africa/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-swahili/

Year Two

In the second year students without a previous Anthropology Degree will take 150 credits - 120 in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology; 30 in the Intensive Language discipline. Students with a previous Anthropology Degree will take 165 credits -135 in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology; 30 in the Intensive Language discipline.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

COMPULSORY MODULES

All students are required to take the compulsory dissertation module worth 60 credits.

OPTIONAL MODULES

Students without a previous Anthropology Degree must select 15 credits from List A optional modules, remaining 45 credits can be selected from list A or B. Students with a previous Anthropology Degree can select 60 credits can be selected from list A or B. (Please note that the list A & B can be found under Year One)

History

Near and Middle East

Religions and Philosophies

PART-TIME STUDY OVER 4 YEARS

Year One

In the first year students will take 105 credits in the Intensive Language discipline. No modules will be taken in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

Students are not required to take any modules in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in their first year.

INTENSIVE LANGUAGE DISCIPLINE

60 credits must be selected from the Intensive Language discipline (see below). Over the summer period, students will study abroad in their specialised country of discipline. This will count for 45 credits.

ARABIC

https://www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-arabic/

JAPANESE

https://www.soas.ac.uk/japankorea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-japanese/

KOREAN

KOREAN - https://www.soas.ac.uk/japankorea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-korean/

SOUTHEAST ASIAN LANGUAGES

https://www.soas.ac.uk/sea/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-south-east-asian-languages/

SWAHILI

https://www.soas.ac.uk/africa/programmes/ma-and-intensive-language-swahili/

Year Two

In the second year students will take 60 credits - 30 in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology; 30 in the Intensive Language discipline.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

CORE MODULES

All students are required to take the core module, Medical Anthropology in Global Perspective, worth 30 credits. Students must audit the compulsory module, Ethnographic Research Methods. This will not count towards your 315 credits.

Year Three

Students will take 60 credits in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. No modules will be taken in the Intensive Language discipline.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

COMPULSORY MODULES

Students without a previous Degree in Anthropology are required to take the compulsory module, Theoretical Approaches to Social Anthropology, worth 30 credits.

OPTIONAL MODULES

Students without a previous Anthropology Degree will take optional modules worth 30 credits. 15 credits must be selected from the List A, the remaining 15 credits can be selected from the list A or List B. Students with a previous Anthropology Degree will take optional modules worth 60 credits, 15 credits must be selected from the List A, remaining 45 credits can be selected from the List A or List B.

List A

Anthropology and Sociology

Development Studies

List B

Anthropology and Sociology

History

Near and Middle East

Religions and Philosophies

INTENSIVE LANGUAGE DISCIPLINE

Students have completed their required number of modules in years one and two.

Year Four

In the final year, students will take the last 90 credits in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

COMPULSORY MODULES

All students are required to take the compulsory dissertation module worth 60 credits.

OPTIONAL MODULES

All students are required to select 30 credits from List A or List B.

INTENSIVE LANGUAGE DISCIPLINE

Students have completed their required number of credits in the language pathway and do not take further credits in their final year.

This is the structure for 2018/19 applicants

Programme Specification

• Programme Specification (pdf; 142kb)

Disclaimer

Year abroad

Yes (summer)

Teaching & Learning

Contact Hours

All Masters programmes consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.

As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations and so on. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary.

More information is on the page for each module.

Aims and Outcomes

• All students are introduced to the types of problem and areas of questioning which are fundamental to the anthropology of medicine.
• Students new to the discipline are given knowledge of the general principles of anthropological enquiry
• All students develop advanced knowledge and understanding of the theoretical approaches which help form an anthropological perspective.
• All students gain an understanding of the practical methods by which this perspective is applied in field research.  
• All students will be provided with a near proficient ability in a language.

 Knowledge

• Students will be familiar with the foundational literature on the basis of which medical anthropology is linked to and emerges from broader disciplinary concerns.
• Students will have knowledge of the intersections linking medical anthropology to related fields, such as social studies of science, studies in bioethics, and critical approaches to public health
• Students will be familiar with the numerous ethnographic studies of health and illness.  

Intellectual (thinking) skills

• Students will learn to deploy an ethnographic kind of questioning – one directed toward teasing out of complex situations the sets of particular norms or principles which condition or shape them.
• As anthropologists, they will be trained to look for the specifically social in everything (even & especially in the “natural”)
• Students will learn how to form an anthropological problem – that is to distinguish an anthropological problem from a mere topic or area of interest.

Subject-based practical skills

• Personal drive: Students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning
• Students will develop research skills: including location and adjustment to differing types of library collection, as well as locating organizations and people who hold significant information
• Listening & understanding: Students will be able to assimilate complex arguments quickly on the basis of listening – and to discuss or disagree constructively with points made by others.  
• Planning and problem solving: students will be able to set targets and achieve them, and will be able to work well to deadlines.
• Working in a group: students will learn to lead by contributing to the development of consensus.  
• In the two year intensive language pathway, to acquire/develop skills in a  language to Effective Operational Proficiency level, i.e., being able to  communicate in written and spoken medium in a contemporary language.

 Transferable skills

• Students will develop an ability to begin from a general question or issue and develop an appropriate research model and method.
• Ability to clearly represent a concise understanding of a project/problem and its solution.
• An ability to recognize and appreciate for what it is an unconventional approach or an unfamiliar idea  
• An ability creatively to resolve conflict while working in a team; being able to see the other person’s point of view
• An ability to work and feel at ease in multicultural or cross cultural environments.

Tuition Fees

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the Registry's Postgraduate Tuition Fees page.

This is a Band 1 tuition fee.

Fees for 2018/19 entrants. The fees below are per academic year. Please note that fees go up each year. 2 year full-time programmes have 2 years of full-time fees - the fee in the second year will be higher than the fee for the first year (the full time fee below is for the first year only).

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

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