Introduction

Disease moves across national borders – and so do doctors, patients, and medical technologies.  In a globalising world, cultural, political and economic differences are crucial for understanding health problems. How does poverty or sexuality shape disease epidemiology?  Are psychoses universal or culture bound?  Should ethnic differences matter for healthcare workers serving a multicultural population?
 
The Master in Medical Anthropology and Sociology trains students to understand health, disease and the body from a social science perspective. The programme looks at pressing health problems as well as key debates in social science theory. We emphasise an interpretive and critical approach. Gender, or ethnicity for example, are not just variables whose effects on health can be measured; they are also categories made by societies, and lived by consumers and patients. Students examine a broad range of issues: from the social determinants of disease to the role of biomedicine as a powerful institution in modern life.  

The programme has a special focus on research. Students design and carry out their own original research based on fieldwork in the Netherlands or abroad. They are supervised by an international staff with a range of theoretical expertise and research experience from projects carried out in many areas of the world. There are also opportunities to link the thesis to staff research projects or health interventions.

For students interested in this field of study, we also offer a two-year Research Master’s.

Studying Medical Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Amsterdam

The Medical Anthropology and Sociology programme is designed for students with a Bachelor's in social science who want a Master's level specialisation, as well as for health care practitioners and development professionals seeking research skills and training in the health social sciences. It also provides preparation for students wishing to do a PhD. Students may conduct their research either in the Netherlands or in other countries, and may write their theses in either English or Dutch.

The University of Amsterdam is a pioneer in the rapidly growing fields of medical anthropology and sociology. Our researchers have a broad array of theoretical specialisations, such as: global health inequalities; clinically relevant research; science and technology studies; medical enhancement; health, personhood and morality; ethnographies of policy making; HIV/AIDS; and child, reproductive and sexual health. They carry out research in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.