Undergraduate Course: Anthropology of Health and Healing (SCAN10062)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Social Anthropology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Medical anthropology studies health, illness, and healing in different cultural contexts. One of anthropology¿s most rapidly growing sub-disciplines, medical anthropology explores both traditional healing and modern medical technologies. This course introduces students to the key issues in medical anthropology and gets them engaged with the field's distinctive perspective on health and healing. It takes students away from the view that there is only one standardized 'best practice' and shows them the astounding diversity of therapeutic methods, ideas of disease causation, healer personalities, and spaces for healing around the world. The course also provides a basic orientation in the theories and methods used in anthropological research on health and illness. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Anthropology courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge that covers the key concepts, approaches and debates in medical anthropology. They will have a critical understanding of different theoretical approaches in medical anthropology and how they have changed¿how medical anthropologists conduct empirical research. They should be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of the following:
- How social understandings of the human body are formed and transformed by healing knowledge and practices.
- How "traditional healers" form their practices in a field of multiple healer-patient relations and why "modernity" has not made non- biomedical forms of healing disappear.
- Why healing performances have an effect on both individual patients and social collectivities.
- Why broader frames of political, economic, and historical analysis are immediately relevant for an understanding of body, illness, and healing.
- How the objectification of the body by medical knowledge can be seen as forms of disciplinary power and control.
- Why the distinction between objectively described "disease" and subjectively perceived "illness" has both strengths and weaknesses.
- How notions of well-being are related to cultural understandings of sickness.
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Assessment Information
| This course will be assessed by a combination of (i) a short essay that will serve as a formative feedback event (word-limit: 1500) and (ii) a long essay (word-limit: 3000). The short essay carries a weighting of 30% towards the final overall mark for the course as a whole, and the long essay carries a weighting of 70%. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alice Street
Tel: (0131 6)51 5181
Email: Alice.Street@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Elaine Khennouf
Tel: (0131 6)51 1480
Email: Elaine.Khennouf@ed.ac.uk |
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