Medical and Health Humanities MA

Our MA Medical and Health Humanities offers you the chance to explore human health through the richly faceted lenses of culture and history, covering topics including infectious disease, diet and exercise, disability, and mental health and wellbeing.<br/><br/>**Why choose this course?**<br/><br/><br/>- This course draws together the diverse experience and interests of students and staff, working across different disciplines, different historical periods and different geographical regions, to offer an interdisciplinary approach to the fascinating, complex relationship between medicine and the humanities.<br/><br/><br/>- It is ideal if you are interested in, or working within, health studies and wish to deepen your understanding of how patients and practitioners interact and how these narratives are negotiated in contemporary culture, theory and artistic practice.<br/><br/><br/>- It gives you the chance to consider further how scientific and technological advances are constantly pushing the bounds of medical possibility. You will explore the role played by the humanities, and how the practice of medicine represented in art, literature, film and other media determines how we understand and experience our own bodies and the realities of sickness and health.<br/><br/><br/>**What you will learn**<br/><br/>On this MA Medical and Health Humanities you will explore the timely and urgent matters facing people, patients, stakeholders, practitioners and artists as they address issues including identity, gender, sexuality, autonomy, rights, equality and diversity in the broad field of medicine.<br/><br/>You will also consider the development of clinical practices and institutions, the formation of medical expertise and authority, and the role of medical ethics and law.<br/><br/>**How you will learn**<br/><br/>This course is available to study full- or part-time with classes taking place in the evening. You will learn through lectures, seminars and workshops, and engage with a range of materials from academic criticism to narratives of lived experience and explore archives and a diversity of literary and artistic works.<br/><br/>The core module for this course examines key themes between medicine and culture. You will explore topics like the birth of the clinic, genetics and ethics, disability studies, assisted reproduction and reproductive loss, narrative medicine, and memoir and lived experience. <br/><br/>**Highlights**<br/><br/><br/>- The course has been awarded a number of fully funded MA studentships by the Wellcome Trust as part of its commitment to building an influential and diverse population of future researchers in the medical humanities. <br/><br/><br/>- All Master’s students are eligible to apply for our prestigious Eric Hobsbawm Scholarships, subject to availability. One of the most influential historians of the twentieth century, Eric Hobsbawm taught at Birkbeck for over five decades and embodied what is central to our teaching and research: a continued commitment to critical enquiry and public engagement. We also offer a number of bursaries for postgraduate students.<br/><br/><br/>- This course grows out of Birkbeck’s Centre for Medical and Health Humanities, an interdisciplinary and cross-College research group that brings together academics and students of all levels to work on issues both critical and clinical.<br/><br/><br/>**Careers and employability**<br/><br/>On successfully graduating from this MA Medical and Health Humanities, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including:<br/><br/><br/>- a sophisticated use of written and spoken English<br/><br/><br/>- an advanced critical ability in the use of theoretical perspectives<br/><br/><br/>- facility and precision in the use of analytical tools<br/><br/><br/>- strong skills and initiative in collecting and organising complex materials and writing up clear, well-presented reports or fluent critical arguments.<br/><br/><br/>Graduates can pursue career paths in a wide range of different fields. including in:<br/><br/><br/>- medicine<br/><br/><br/>- academia<br/><br/><br/>- research<br/><br/><br/>- publishing<br/><br/><br/>- journalism<br/><br/><br/>- healthcare education or administration<br/><br/><br/>- community health<br/><br/><br/>- education<br/><br/><br/>- law.<br/>