MA in History of Medicine

This Master’s course combines three modules common to all MA History programmes with three bespoke modules that deepen understanding of medical history and develop methodological and historiographical skills which prepares students for their dissertation. ‘Introduction to the History of Medicine’ provides an overview from antiquity to the 21st century; ‘The Patient in History’ examines how patients have been perceived, constructed and contested, and considers the extent to which the patient’s voice can be retrieved from different source materials; ‘Diseases in History’ analyses how diseases have been socially, culturally and historically understood, constructed and responded to. 

The core history modules are: ‘The Practice of History’, which studies how historians have practised their discipline in the second half of the 20th century; and ‘Research Skills and Dissertation Training’. Students select the independent study module or a further MA module from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Assessment methods include research essays, a literature review, a poster and a dissertation.