MA Medical Anthropology and Intensive Language (2019 entry)

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

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.

May be combined with:

The following Intensive Language pathways are available with the MA Medical Anthropology

• Arabic
• Japanese
• Korean
• Persian
• South East Asian Languages: Burmese, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese
• Swahili
• Turkish (available from 2019/20)

Students must take 315 credits in total, comprised of 255 taught credits (45 of which are taught abroad as part of a Summer School) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below. 

In their first year, students on this two-year Intensive Language programme take 60 credits of intensive language instruction and 60 credits in the discipline. During the summer, they participate in a Summer School abroad. In the second year, they take another 30 language credits as well as 30 credits in the discipline; they also complete their dissertation in the discipline. 

Students are also required to audit 15PANH002 Ethnographic Research Methods, i.e. to attend lectures for this module (without attending seminars or submitting any assessments). The module does not count towards the total of 315 credits.

There are two different pathways for the Medical Anthropology component of this programme: one for students without a background in Anthropology, and one for students with previous knowledge of the subject. Please note that for the latter, the balance of credits between the two years differs slightly from the standard

For information on the programme structure for the four-year part-time version of the programme, please see the pdf programme specification at the bottom of this page.

Please see the relevant web pages in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics for information on the Intensive Language part of the programme.

Two years without background in Anthropology

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Plus

15PANH002 Ethnographic Research Methods (non-credit bearing component)

This will not count towards the total of 315 credits, but students are required to audit this module, i.e. to attend lectures (without attending seminars or submitting any assessments).

Language Component

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

A module from List A below to the value of 15 credits.

Plus

Modules from List A or List B below to the value of 45 credits.

Language Component

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

Two years with background in Anthropology

Year 1 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Plus

A module from List A below to the value of 15 credits.

Plus

15PANH002 Ethnographic Research Methods (non-credit bearing component)

This will not count towards the total of 315 credits, but students are required to audit this module, i.e. to attend lectures (without attending seminars or submitting any assessments).

Language Component

Students take 60 credits in the selected language.

Summer Abroad

Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.

Year 2 (two years full time)

Discipline Component

Module(s) from List A or List B below to the value of 75 credits.

Language Component

Students take 30 credits in the selected language.

Dissertation

List of Modules (subject to availability)

List A

List B

Anthropology and Sociology

History

Religions and Philosophies

This is the structure for applicants

Programme Specification

• MA Medical Anthropology and Intensive Language Programme Specification 2018/19 (pdf; 98kb)

Important notice

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 2019/20 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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