THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020
- ARCHIVE as at 1 September 2019

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Social and Political Science : Social Anthropology

Undergraduate Course: Anthropology of Health and Migration (SCAN10085)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Social and Political Science CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryIn this course we examine the social, political and economic production of diseases and their interaction with processes of migration, transit, legal status, and migrants - incorporation into the places to which they migrate, over time - as well as their effects on the places of origin. We will offer anthropological perspectives on some of the great crises of migrant health in our times.
Course description Health and migration have been intertwined historically, from the 19th century rejection of undesirable Southern and Eastern European and Asian immigrants at Ellis and Angel Islands on the grounds of medicalised prejudice, to present-day requirements of pre-entry health screening of immigrants to the UK, and the forced deportation of migrant labourers from the Persian Gulf countries for their HIV positive status. This course will use ethnographic case studies and anthropological theory to understand these historical entanglements and what those understandings may offer to make sense of our present condition in relation to health and migration. Moving between case studies exploring the health experiences of different streams of migrants, the course works towards driving policy and political questions concerning the biopolitical governance of migration.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  32
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 166 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Short Coursework (1000 words) 20%
Final essay (3000 words) 80%
Feedback Students will be required to submit a short coursework mid-way through the semester on a topic agreed with the course organiser. Feedback on this short coursework piece will be provided individually, and discussed in class.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of transnational and local migration processes with respect to their entanglements with migrants¿ health and other related concerns, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective.
  2. Synthesize and analyze empirical and theoretical materials from a variety of sources and viewpoints on health and migrations, with particular emphasis on ethnographic evidence and lateral thinking.
  3. Examine, use and assess evidence in support of explanatory and normative claims that link internal and international migration with health statuses of sending and receiving communities.
  4. Develop and evaluate arguments that take different kinds of social complexity into account, such as biopolitics of the state apparatuses and non-state actors, political economy of the migration process and value systems.
  5. Exercise informed independent thought and critical judgment and be able to effectively communicate their arguments.
Reading List
Holmes, S. (2013). Fresh fruit, broken bodies: Migrant farmworkers in the United States (Vol. 27). Univ of California Press.
Sargent, C., & Larchanché, S. (2011). Transnational migration and global health: the production and management of risk, illness, and access to care. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 345-361.
Thomas, F., Haour-Knipe, M., & Aggleton, P. (Eds.). (2009). Mobility, sexuality and AIDS. Routledge.
Fairchild, A. 2003. Science at the Borders: Immigrant Medical Inspection and the Shaping of the Modern Industrial Labour Force. John Hopkins University Press
Fassin, D. (2005). The truth from the body: Medical certificates as ultimate evidence for asylum seekers. American Anthropologist. 107(4), 597.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills The course will develop critical reflection, independent research skills and effective communication skills in students.

Students will enhance their critical analysis and evaluation skills through all elements of the course, but particularly the long essay.

Students will enhance their ability to work with others and their verbal communication skills through group work and tutorial participation.
Keywordshealth,migration,anthropology
Contacts
Course organiserDr Ayaz Qureshi
Tel: (0131 6)51 5361
Email: ayaz.qureshi@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary
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