Medical Anthropology MPhil

University of Oxford

MSc

This one-year course offers a coordinated learning programme in both social and biological anthropological approaches to health and illness. It provides the necessary basis for future anthropological research and an excellent cross-cultural grounding for those aiming to pursue a career in anthropology, global health, or other health-related fields.

The MSc consists of four papers and a dissertation. The three core papers, taught across Michaelmas and Hilary terms, each comprise lectures, tutorials and seminars.

You will also select an option paper, which may have a topical or regional focus, based on your own interests.

The core papers are:

Critical Medical Anthropology

Biocultural Approaches to Medicine

Anthropologies of the Body.

There is one core seminar series in medical anthropology; the student led Medical Anthropology Research Seminars.

The dissertation is an independent piece of work written after the June examinations. Dissertation classes are held over the course of Hilary and Trinity term, during which you will be able to present ideas for your dissertation project to colleagues and staff, and a maximum of two individual supervisors.

MPhil

The two-year MPhil course offers a coordinated training in both biological and social anthropological approaches to health and illness, with special emphasis on methods. It provides the necessary basis for future anthropological research and an excellent cross-cultural grounding for those aiming to pursue a career in clinical medicine, international health or other health-related fields.

The MPhil is similar in topical scope and breadth to the MSc, but it allows for a deeper engagement with the theory and practice of anthropological research. It is intended both as a standalone degree and as a broader and deeper preparation for doctoral research than is possible with the MSc.

During the first year of the MPhil you would follow the same course of instruction as MSc students through to the June examinations.

In the first year there is one option paper and three core papers, as follows:

Critical Medical Anthropology

Biocultural Approaches to Medicine

Anthropologies of the Body

At the end of the first year, you then use the summer vacation to acquire a firm grounding in medical anthropological literature and develop your dissertation outline based on this background reading. Fieldwork is not a necessary component of the MPhil degree, although you can undertake it over the vacation or early in the second year.

Study towards the MPhil degree in the second year consists of class-based course work, participation in seminars and individual research, written up in a dissertation.

Coursework in the second year has three components: critical reading classes in Michaelmas term and participation in two different methods classes in Michaelmas term and/or Hilary term.

The range of methods classes varies yearly and includes (but is not limited to):

Ethnographic Fieldwork Methods

Ethnographic Portraiture

Practical Quantitative Methods

Critical Methods of Numerical Analysis

Language-Focused Methods

Ethnobiology Fieldwork Methods.

There is one core seminar series in medical anthropology; the student led Medical Anthropology Research Seminars. In addition to those, there is a rich seminar culture at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (SAME) and students are expected to actively participate in those.

The research component is comprised of a 30,000-word dissertation. MPhil students receive throughout the second year individual tuition from their supervisor on their dissertation writing.