Academic Resources: graduate programs
University of Hawaii
Degrees offered:
The Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii offers the MA and PhD in Anthropology with a concentration in Medical Anthropology.
Medical Anthropology Faculty:
Nina L. Etkin (PhD Washington University-St. Louis 1975: Professor),
Director of the Medical Anthropology Program. Biological anthropology, indigenous
medicine, diet, ethnopharmacology. Nigeria and West Africa, Eastern Indonesia,
Hawaii and the Pacific
Email: etkin@hawaii.edu
C. Fred Blake (PhD University of Illinois 1975: Associate Professor) fblake@hawaii.eduCritical theory, ethnomedicine, symbolic systems. China, U.S.
Joel M. Hanna (PhD University of Arizona 1968: Professor) hannaj@hawaii.eduBiological anthropology, biomedical ecology & human adaptations. Samoa, South America
Alan Howard (PhD Stanford University 1962: Professor) ahoward@hawaii.eduCultural anthropology, adaptation to change, methodology. Polynesia
Terry Hunt (PhD University of Washington 1989: Associate Professor) thunt@hawaii.eduArchaeology, disease & prehistory, paleoenvironments, evolutionary theory. Oceania
Richard W. Lieban (PhD Columbia University 1956: Professor Emeritus) Social Anthropology, medical anthropology. Southeast Asia, Philippines
Thomas W. Maretzki (PhD Yale University 1957: Professor Emeritus) Medical anthropology; culture and illness. U.S. and Europe
Michael Pietrusewsky (PhD University of Toronto 1969: Professor) mikep@hawaii.eduBiological anthropology, skeletal biology of human populations. Oceania, Southeast Asia
Anthropologists in other Departments and Institutions amplify this range of health-related interests with expertise in, for example: ethnobotany, nutrition, culture change, ethnic and population studies, epidemiology, linguistics, human genetics, gender relations, and international development. These concerns are further endorsed through The Social Science Health and Medicine Faculty, an informal consortium that serves as a nucleus for sponsored colloquia and curricular developments.
Program information:
Resources for training in Medical Anthropology include specific curricular and research foci within the Department of Anthropology, as well as related areas of instruction in the Schools of Public Health and Medicine and other academic units concerned with health, medicine, and human biology. The multiethnic communities of Hawaii, and a variety of clinical settings, provide unusual opportunities for the study of sociocultural and epidemiologic problems related to health and illness, complementary and alternative medicines, traditional/folk and biomedical approaches to illness prevention and therapeutics, and delivery of health care services among populations in transition. Special University resources in Asian and Pacific Studies encourage medical anthropological research in those areas.
Curriculum and Requirements
Students who elect a concentration in Medical Anthropology fulfill general requirements for the MA and/or PhD in the Department of Anthropology while attaining special competence in biological anthropology or cultural anthropology. Students who are interested in ethnomedicine can request a seaprate description of "Ethnopharmacology/Ethnobotany at UH". A printed description of the graduate program is available from the Anthropology Department office; other relevant information is described in the University of Hawaii Graduate Catalogue.
The special Medical Anthropology curriculum within the Department of Anthropology includes:
- a general introduction to Medical Anthropology (ANTH 425); students may petition to waive this requirement if they have already completed a comparable course;
- at least two of these courses:
- Folk Medicine: Cross-Cultural Studies (ANTH 426)
- Physiological Anthropology (ANTH 450)
- Anthropology of Infectious Disease (ANTH 606)
- Food, Health, & Society (ANTH 427)
Selection among a series of one-semester seminars (ANTH 750C, repeatable) that center on: research methods in medical anthropology; medicinal plants, ethnopharmacology and biodiversity; ethnicity & illness; gender & health; growth, development, & aging; medical anthropology in institutional settings
Students in Medical Anthropology also will take a minimum of two courses outside the Department, in Public Health, Medicine, Botany, Geography, or other academic departments whose curricular foci transect the student's training in medical anthropology. These courses may include (this list is illustrative, not exhaustive):
Hawaiian and Pacific Ethnobotany (BOT 446)
Medical Ethnobotany (BOT 442)
Geography of Health and Disease (GEOG 415)
Research Seminar in Medical Geography (GEOG 751)
Cultural Aspects of Food Habits (FSHN 476)
Nutrition Policy Analysis (FSHN 683)
Host-Parasite Relationships (MICR 681)
Health & Aging (PH 640)
Politics of Health (PH 710)
Seminar in International Health (PH 790)
Seminar in Tropical Medicine (TRMD 690)
Applications:
Applications are due no later than 1 February (15 January for international students) for admission in August of the same calendar year.
Address:
For application forms and information about financial support write to:
Department of Anthropology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2424 Maile Way
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
Or contact Mary S. Ambrose, Student Services Specialist, Department of Anthropology, mtugaoen@hawaii.edu