Graduate Diploma in Social Health (Medical Anthropology)
ObjectivesOn completion of this course, students should:
* have gained a sound understanding of the social context in which disease develops, and of the social context in which health care interventions are developed;
* have the ability to critically evaluate and synthesise the relevant literature
* have developed analytical skills in identifying the social basis to problems in clinical, social and policy contexts
* have developed an awareness of the interface between the conceptual and practice issues raised in the subject
* be able to apply the conceptual, theoretical and practical dimensions of the course to students' own professional practice
* be able to articulate knowledge and understanding of the area in oral and written form
* have developed a respect for intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of scholarship.
Academic titleGraduate Diploma in Social Health (Medical Anthropology)
Course descriptionA total of 8 coursework subjects: 3 core compulsory subjects plus 5 elective subjects as indicated below.
CORE SUBJECTS
Students must complete the following THREE core subjects:
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-402 Culture, Health and Illness
This subject provides an introduction to critical medical anthropology, a rapidly growing and dynamic endeavour, which provides a link between social anthropology and biological anthropology. While the subject discusses various perspectives in medica... Semester 1 12.50
505-408 Key Concepts in Social Health
This subject explores key ways that bodies and the people that inhabit them are understood in the social and medical sciences. How knowledge about bodies is constructed within medical and social sciences is investigated through theoretical understand... Semester 2 12.50
505-403 Key Perspectives in Medical Anthropology
This subject examines a range of classic and current theoretical debates within the discipline of anthropology: on rationality and cultural difference; objectivity and reflexivity; modes of anthropological representation and the politics of applied ... Semester 2 12.50
ELECTIVE SUBJECTS
Students must complete FIVE subjects from the following list of electives.
NOTE:
* Students may elect to undertake another approved subject.
* 175-501 is recommended only for overseas-born students of non-English speaking background.
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-435 Aboriginal Health: Past to Present
Through the use of case studies located along a historical timeline, this subject provides students with a foundational understanding of Aboriginal health from pre-invasion to the present. Along this continuum, Aboriginal health issues are examined ... Semester 1 12.50
505-400 Health, Ethics and Society
This subject introduces and critically examines standard conceptual approaches to health ethics and provides an introduction to conceptual approaches within other relevant disciplines. Through the employment of these different conceptual approaches, ... Semester 1 12.50
505-439 Living Longer: Global Perspectives
The course will study the history of health transitions from a global perspective, focussing on the factors historians have identified in bringing about the modern rise in life expectancy. The course is structured around the book by James C. Riley, R... Semester 1 12.50
136-039 Medicine: From Magic to Microbes
This subject is a history of medicine from prehistory to the present, with a special emphasis on the past three hundred years. It explores the experience and understanding of disease and its therapies in different cultural settings, and the transform... Semester 2 12.50
505-436 Policy Processes in Aboriginal Health
This subject reviews the historical, social, economic and cultural factors influencing structures and practices central to the policy process in Aboriginal health. Students explore the context of the policy process at macro, meso and micro levels in ... Semester 1 12.50
505-404 Directed Study in Social Health
The content of this subject is individually negotiated between the student and a supervisor appointed by the subject co-ordinator, on the basis of the academic areas of expertise of the available supervisors, and the interests of the student. A list ... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
175-501 Presenting Academic Discourse
This subject aims to develop the advanced language required for successful postgraduate study in English. In this subject students will develop critical approaches to researching, reading and writing. They will also develop the ability to plan and pr... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
505-405 Bioethics: The Fundamental Debates
This subject introduces students to the classic debates in bioethics about reproduction, life and death. Specific topics may include: active and passive euthanasia, abortion, organ transplantation, reproductive and genetic technologies (e.g. cloning,... Semester 2 12.50
136-037 Biotechnology in Modern Society
This subject will introduce students to selected research and commercial applications of modern biotechnology in order to discuss the broader issues that arise from them. A range of topics will be covered in this subject, which may include the recomb... Semester 2 12.50
505-407 Current Issues in Health Ethics
The subject will involve the identification and exploration of theoretical and philosophical frameworks of participants in debates, resolutions/outcomes, and investigation of alternative positions. Possible topics include allocation of resources, acc... Semester 2 12.50
136-029 Darwinism
This subject explores the origins and the implications of Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of evolution by means of natural selection. It begins by examining the diverse sources from which the theory was constructed during the late 1830s: t... Semester 2 12.50
121-055 Keeping the Body in Mind
This subject introduces a wide range of anthropological interests in the human body from a comparative ethnographic perspective. It considers topics such as body image and eating disorders, body arts and practices, body modifications and decorations,... Semester 2 12.50
136-528 Medicine and Culture
Over the ages people have deployed various methods - metaphysical, magical or the pure empirical - to combat the ravages of disease. Bloodletting, cupping, leaching, doses of highly poisonous chemicals, blisters, copious draughts of mineral water, hy... Semester 2 12.50