SOSANT2550 ¨C Medical anthropology

Course content

This course gives a basic introduction to Medical anthropology. Medical anthropology studies the universal human experience of health and illness, and attendant practices of medicine and treatment, across societies and cultures, in specific local situations, and under the impact of global political, economic and ideological forces.

It links anthropological domains, from kinship and religion to politics and economy, and has significantly shaped the development of the overall discipline in recent decades. It has its roots in classic anthropological themes, such as magic, possession, witchcraft, the afterlife, and personhood in so-called ¡®non-Western¡¯ societies. But, equally importantly, medical anthropology has revealed the local specificity of ¡®universal¡¯ biomedical practices and thinking, and has more recentlyturned to history and societal change, colonialism and its impact, political-economic transformations, and science and technology.

The course covers basic topics like illness, care and medicines, and specific themes, such as childbirth, mental health, toxic pollution, infrastructure, hospitals and epidemics.

Learning outcome

Knowledge about

• different anthropological approaches to key issues of health and healing around the world
• medical anthropology as a subfield of general anthropology, its history and its ties into general anthropological themes
• biomedicine in relation to local conditions, global historical forces, and other forms of medical thinking and practice
• the role of medical anthropology as a tool of social and political critique

Skills

• compare key current authors and texts in medical anthropology
• discuss recent theoretical approaches to study issues of health and disease globally
• approach familiar healthcare practices and situations with an anthropological gaze
• critically analyse aspects of health policies and practices

Competencies

• communicate medical anthropological ideas orally and in writing
• reflect on scholarly discussions and public debates about health, illness and medicine

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with SOSANMTL.
• 10 credits overlap with SOSANT200.
• 10 credits overlap with SOSANT2550P.

Teaching

The course consists of five lectures and five seminars. The course builds on active preparation and participation on the part of students. It is expected that reading is done before the lectures, and the lecturer will ask some basic cold questions on scheduled texts in the beginning of each lecture. The seminars will consist in part of presentations by the students, briefly summarizing individual readings. This will be explained and distributed in the first lecture.

Compulsory elements:

• 80 % participation in seminars.
• mandatory one-page reflective, generative essay to be written in week 1 (discussed in the first seminar) on the effects of COVID-19 on lives across the world, engaging with personal experience, news stories or blogs (on, e.g., conspiracy theories and protest, social distancing and masks, care and loss, mobility restrictions and isolation, mental health, volunteering, vaccination); will be discussed in the seminar.
• mandatory seminar presentation, five minutes, about one of the monographs on the reading list.
• mandatory one-page reading summary on the monograph from the reading list; written feedback will be provided.

Examination

Take-home exam (choice of three questions) based on readings and own literature research (2000 words +/- 10%, excl. references).

• Previous exams

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English.You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.