Medical Anthropology Major, B.A.

专业介绍

Medical anthropology addresses the biological, cultural, and political-economic dimensions of health, illness, and healing historically and at present. Reflecting the multi-disciplinary character of its parent field of anthropology, medical anthropology deploys quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the body as a site of evolutionary processes and cultural symbols. Medical anthropology considers healing as a set of interpretive processes occurring at multiple, complex levels. 

This program provides students with the fundamental knowledge and exposure needed to pursue careers and post-graduate studies in fields related to global health, public health, allied health care, health and human services, health policy, medicine, dentistry, and other emerging disciplines. 

For students seeking a career in the health professions, the program in medical anthropology complements training in the natural sciences. Courses in medical anthropology explore population variations in health outcomes due to the influence of environment, context, and culture. The curriculum also equips students with ways to understand the meanings people find in illness and healing as well as the moral stakes of medical decisions. Additionally, courses in medical anthropology give students awareness of the formal institutions and social relations that become the channels and limitations of technical knowledge about illness and healing.