Medical Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Practice: 2009-2010 Courses

FAQ about these courses for Charles River Campus students
FAQ about these courses for BUSM students
Course Brochure - Fall
Directions and Map

GMS MA 700: History and Theory of Medical Anthropology, Part I
This course introduces the history of the field of medical anthropology, and of theoretical orientations related to understanding and analyzing health and medicine in society and culture. Readings will exemplify interpretive strategies applied to health-related experiences, discourse, knowledge, and practice.
Laird TR 1:00-3:50
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 710:  Medical Anthropological and Qualitative Research Methods and Design
Introduction to methodology for ethnographic field research in medical anthropology, and qualitative research methods. This course examines issues in designing anthropological research, and reviews theoretical approaches to research ethics, designing research, framing questions and questionnaire design, and data collection techniques.
Barnes W 3:00-5:50
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 720: World Religions, Medicines, and Healing 
An introduction to approaches to healing integral to Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, African, African descended, Latin American, Chinese, Native American traditions, and to some of the outcomes of their interactions, in relation to the experience of affliction, suffering, and healing.
BarnesTR 5:00-6:20
Location: TBA
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 740-A1: The Cultural Formation of the Clinician & Its Implications for Practice
An opportunity for students planning to enter clinical practice to examine values they bring into their professional lives, including responses to diverse patient cultures, and the role of religious pluralism. Designed to model a commitment to self-awareness and introspection, fundamental to developing healing partnerships.
Barnes M 5:00-7:50
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 780 A1: Culture, Migration, and Mental Health
Immigrants and refugees cross religious, linguistic, cultural, and economic borders, which many experience as symbolic “disorder.” Yet clinicians may view their responses to these challenges as psychological disorders, and traditional healing as psychopathology. We examine debates between religion, anthropology, and psychiatry in relation to cross-cultural mental healthcare programs.
Laird MW 1:00-2:30
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

Spring 2009

GMS MA 701: History and Theory in Medical Anthropology, Part II
Reviews major approaches in medical anthropology. The course will address theoretical traditions in medical anthropology, focusing on different orientations developed and applied within the field to the interpretation of health-related phenomena. It will also examine the application of cross-cultural analysis to the study of biomedicine and science. Readings will encompass and illustrate a range of issues and positions.
Laird M 1:00-4:00
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 770: IRB Proposal Development and Writing
Increasingly, research involving human subjects must first pass through ethics review. However, the process usually assumes a quantitative research model, posing unique challenges for qualitative researchers. This course trains students to write a full qualitative research proposal for review by an Institutional Review Board, working closely with the structure provided by B.U.’s IRB. Includes discussion of issues that arise when having to apply a medical research model to qualitative and anthropological research.
Barnes W 1:00-4:00
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 721: Theory and Methods in Religion and Healing
Examines different “theories” of religious traditions (social-scientific, psychological, phenomenological, theological, historical) in relation to the study of healing. Readings will include both works of theory, as well as contemporary applications of these approaches. Students will learn to compare and apply them to their own work as critical readers and writers.
Barnes Th 1:00-4:00
Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)

GMS MA 724: Ethnographies of Immigrants, Religion, and Healing
Presents different ways of studying cultural and religious pluralism in the United States through case studies written as ethnographies. Examines transformations of ethnicity, gender, race and national identity that have marked both historical and contemporary migrations of people to the United States. Also explores the impact of intensified transnationalism on the identities of newer American groups. In particular, examines the roles of religious life and practice in relation to a range of healing ways in immigrant communities.
Laird Th 9:00-12:00 Location: Gilmore/Vines Building at 801 Albany Street, Rm. 305
3 cr. (CRC students see FAQ for how to arrange for a 4th credit)