Medical Anthropology and Mental Health MA

The SOAS MA in Medical Anthropology and Mental Health facilitates understanding of health from diverse perspectives and investigates the complexity of human suffering, as well as varied forms of healing and treatment. 

The programme offers training in anthropological approaches to the major health and mental health challenges of our time. Drawing on ethnographic research, clinical knowledge, lived experience and cross-cultural comparison, it explores health as embedded in historical and social forces such as climate change, coloniality, displacement, and intersecting inequalities including race and gender.

The programme equips graduates with conceptual tools for anthropological analysis and methodological skills in ethnographic research. Students are also introduced to insights from disciplines adjacent to anthropology, including psychology, transcultural psychiatry, psychoanalysis, biomedicine, and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Students’ anthropological skills will be honed through closely supervised original research projects in areas of individual interest, written up as a dissertation. 

Students learn about the implications of ongoing cultural and technological shifts and the ethical stakes of diverse healing philosophies and practices in order to engage with current affairs and global conditions pertaining to mental health, inequality, conflict, and justice. They also have the opportunity to use short work placements as part of their study programme to gain practical experience or to reflect anthropologically on their existing work roles.

The MA welcomes students with an intellectual interest in anthropological approaches to health and mental health and is open to applicants from social sciences and other backgrounds, including clinicians, practitioners, pre-med students and trainees across medical and clinical fields, healthcare management, humanitarian/refugee organisations, policymaking and grassroots advocacy in health/mental health. 

We specifically accommodate students of medicine and medical sciences who are interested in combining their training with an MA degree in anthropology. The programme also fosters the independent critical thinking and qualitative research skills needed to pursue postgraduate research through MRes or PhD programmes in Medical Anthropology and qualitative health sciences.

The SOAS Department of Anthropology is fostering recognition of the value of anthropology for medical and mental health policy and practice through the recently established Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA). This is an international hub for cutting-edge anthropological research, education and public engagement in the field of mental health in partnership with NHS, public health and a variety of non-government organisations. 

MA Students join CAMHRA’s vibrant community and will benefit from the research-led teaching, guest lecturing, events and placements. The MA is taught by a diverse group of anthropologists currently leading collaborative research with NHS, voluntary/private sector, and international clinical and public health partners. Our global research projects bring perspectives and debates from different societies, cultures and healing systems.

Why study MA Medical Anthropology and Mental Health at SOAS?

• We are ranked 6th in the UK and 18th in the world for Anthropology (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• 3rd in the UK for Employer Reputation (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• 5th in the UK for Academic Reputation (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• 12th in the UK (Times/Sunday Times League Table 2025)