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.