Module
Specification
GENERAL INFORMATION
Module name Medical Anthropology in Public Health
Module code PHM211
Module Organiser(s) Eleanor Hutchinson and Tracey Chantler
Contact email The LSHTM distance learning programmes and modules are run in
collaboration with the University of London. Enquiries may be made via their
Student Advice Centre at: www.london.ac.uk/contact-us.
(Enquiries from face-to-face i.e. London-based LSHTM MSc or research
students regarding study of DL modules should be emailed to
distance@lshtm.ac.uk.)
Home Faculty Faculty of Public Health and Policy
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/php/
Level This module is at Level 7 (postgraduate Masters level) of the QAA Framework
for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales & Northern Ireland
(FHEQ).
Credit LSHTM award 15 credits on successful completion of this module.
Accreditation Not currently accredited by any other body.
Keywords Anthropology, Ethnography, Methodology, Medicalization, Political Economy of
Health, Bio-politics.
AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND AUDIENCE
Overall aim To provide an introduction to concepts, perspectives, theories and methods in
medical anthropology, and illustrate their relevance to public health issues.
Intended learning By the end of this module, students should be able to:
outcomes Demonstrate an analytical understanding of a range of concepts, principles
and definitions used in medical and social anthropology;
Apply these concepts and principles in the analysis of particular public
health issues across different contexts;
Evaluate the role of anthropological inquiry and analysis in public health
arenas;
Critically evaluate, from an anthropological perspective, epidemiological,
medical and public health approaches.
Target audience This module is recommended for students studying the Environment & Health
and Health Promotion streams of the Public Health MSc.
This study source was downloaded by 100000843145228 from CourseHero.com on 08-11-2022 08:31:16 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/125871044/PHM211-Medical-Anthropology-in-Public-Healthpdf/
, CONTENT
Session content Medical anthropology examines how health and illness are shaped,
experienced, and understood both in local contexts and relation to global,
political and historical forces. It has implications for how we understand the
complexities of disease, diagnostic categories, and indeed what might ‘count’ as
pathological or healthy in the first place. It also examines public health as a
social, political and economic force in society that shapes the ways in which
people interact with one another and those that govern them. The last decades
have seen growing participation of medical anthropologists in medical research
and public health and as a result, medical anthropology has become the single
largest sub-discipline in anthropology. Effective collaboration between
anthropologists and medical and public health researcher is critical to global
health but can be remarkably challenging. Anthropology and biomedicine often
have different assumptions about fundamental issues such as the nature of
health and illness and how these should be studied.
This module introduces anthropological approaches to health, medicine and
public health. It will cover: the history, theoretical framings and methods of
social and medical anthropology and the value of detailed in-depth accounts of
social life; key debates in medical anthropology, including the social and
cultural perceptions of sickness, medical pluralism; some of the non-clinical
dimensions of biomedicine, biomedical treatments and the politics of health;
and the relationship between ideas about the person, the body and illness.
These issues will be linked to a concern with the potential of anthropology to
study (and improve) public health interventions and medical research, and the
additional questions and directions an anthropological approach may bring to
these fields.
The module will be taught using a range of materials by anthropologists who
are at the forefront of engaging and combining public health and
anthropological approaches in public health in high income settings and in
global health projects in low- and middle-income countries. We seek to
illustrate the different ways in which anthropological ideas and methods are
used. It provides lectures, core and additional readings. It no longer relies upon
a textbook and students are required to download and read key
anthropological journal articles and book chapters.
TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT
Study resources The primary resource for this module will be the LSHTM Virtual Learning
provided or required Environment (VLE) – Moodle. Here, students can access a detailed course
outline, recorded lectures, key and suggested readings; participate in module-
specific discussion forums and Collaborate sessions and access the LSHTM
online library resources.
The following specific elements are provided to students after registration for
this module once a year in September/October:
A guide to studying the module
A guide for each block, specifying the learning materials and guide time
needed for each and a learning exercise
A reading list including details of both required and optional readings,
which are available either as scans to download, or via the School’s
subscription to journals.
A series of lectures, recorded at LSHTM
A list of useful websites and other online resources.
This study source was downloaded by 100000843145228 from CourseHero.com on 08-11-2022 08:31:16 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/125871044/PHM211-Medical-Anthropology-in-Public-Healthpdf/