Medical Humanities

Teaching and assessment

Assessments vary across the modules. Typically the main assessment is a 5,000 word essay and a dissertation of 12,000 words.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

• introduce you to a variety of ways in which medical science and practice can be examined within the humanities and social sciences, and to a range of questions and issues that it raises.  In doing so, part of the richness of medical science will be revealed, as well as its problems. The relevant disciplines include history, literature, philosophy and law
• place the study of various materials (such as texts, images, data, legal judgments, etc) at the centre of student learning and analysis
• expose you to a variety of methods, writing styles, researching styles, concepts (etc) that are used across a range of academic disciplines in relation to specific topics and questions in medical science and practice
• expose you to some of the various possibilities and problems that medical science and practice has raised and continues to raise
• develop your capacities to think critically about past and present events and experiences in relation to medicine
• encourage you to relate the academic study of medical science and practice to questions of public debate and concern
• promote a curriculum supported by scholarship, staff development and a research culture that promotes breadth and depth of intellectual enquiry and debate from different Humanities and related disciplines
• assist you to develop cognitive and transferable skills relevant to their vocational and personal development.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You will gain knowledge and understanding of:

• various medical roles, such as the doctor, the nurse, the patient, the medical scientist, the (medical test) subject, and how these are seen in connection with insights derived from one or more of the various Humanities disciplines
• various medical concepts, such as disease, illness, treatment, medical trial, health, and how these are seen in connection with insights derived from one or more of the various Humanities disciplines.
• various moral and legal problems that medical science has raised, and how various societies, codes and laws have been developed to solve and cope with them
• the history of medicine in different eras, centred on Western medicine but incorporating other traditions also
• the way in which presentations of medical practice and practitioners in fiction has altered, and the effects on medical practice itself
• the ways in which different Humanities and related disciplines approach the study of medicine
• how different people and groups may be biased, for good or ill, when commenting on and presenting aspects of medical practice, and how this affects our understanding of medicine.

Intellectual skills

You develop intellectual skills in:

• the ability to gather, organise and deploy various data from relevant primary and secondary sources
• the ability to develop reasoned defensible arguments based on reflection, study and critical judgement
• the ability to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship, and to evaluate methodologies
• the ability to propose new arguments and hypotheses
• the ability to reflect on, and manage, their learning and seek to make use of constructive feedback from peers and staff to enhance their performance and personal skills
• the ability to understand and articulate the similarities and differences between the different disciplines’ approach to medical science and practice.

Subject-specific skills

You gain subject-specific skills in:

• an understanding of the social, economic, and cultural history of medicine and relating those to the political and ethical issues of the modern period and their significance within a global perspective
• a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which philosophers form and argue about problems in relation to medicine
• a comprehensive understanding of how the law works in relation to medicine and the challenges that the one brings to the other
• an understanding of fictional and other depictions of medical practice and practitioners
• evaluate different interpretations, sources and argumentative positions
• application of methods, concepts and theories used by one or more of the relevant disciplines.

Transferable skills

You will gain the following transferable skills:

• communication: the ability to organise information clearly, respond to various sources and arguments, present information and arguments orally and in writing, adapt your style for different audiences and disciplines, use images as a communications tool
• numeracy: the ability to read graphs and tables, integrate numerical and non-numerical information, understand the limits and potentialities of arguments based on quantitative information
• information technology: produce written documents, undertake online research, communicate using email, process information using databases and spreadsheets where necessary
• independence of mind and initiative
• self-discipline and self-motivation
• the ability to work with others and have respect for others’ reasoned views.

Study support

Postgraduate resources

The MA in Medical Humanities is administered by the School of English, drawing on expertise in other Schools and Departments at Kent. This means that students can draw on the excellent resources of a diverse team of teachers with expertise in many key areas.

The Templeman Library is well stocked with excellent research resources, as are Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library. There are a number of special collections: the John Crow Collection of Elizabethan and other early printed texts; the Reading/Raynor Collection of theatre history (over 7,000 texts or manuscripts); ECCO (Eighteenth-Century Collections Online); the Melville manuscripts relating to popular culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the Pettingell Collection (over 7,500 items) of 19th-century drama; the Eliot Collection; children’s literature; and popular literature. A gift from Mrs Valerie Eliot has increased the Library’s already extensive holdings in modern poetry. The British Library in London is also within easy reach. Kent has extensive facilities to support research, and the Templeman Library has excellent holdings in all of our areas of research interest. Special Collections has recently acquired a unique collection of contemporary artists’ books on wellbeing and medicine.

Besides the Templeman Library, School resources include support for attending and organising conferences, and a dedicated postgraduate study space.

Conferences and seminars

Our research centres organise many international conferences, symposia and workshops. 

School of English postgraduate students are encouraged to organise and participate in a conference which takes place in the summer term. This provides students with the invaluable experience of presenting their work to their peers.

The School runs several series of seminars, lectures and readings throughout the academic year. Our weekly research seminars are organised collaboratively by staff and graduates in the School. Speakers range from our own postgraduate students, to members of staff, to distinguished lecturers who are at the forefront of contemporary research nationally and internationally.

The Centre for Creative Writing hosts a very popular and successful weekly reading series; guests have included poets Katherine Pierpoint, Tony Lopez, Christopher Reid and George Szirtes, and novelists Abdulrazak Gurnah, Ali Smith, Marina Warner and Will Self.

Dynamic publishing culture

Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. They also edit several periodicals including: Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities; The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: 600-1500; The Dickensian; Literature Compass; Oxford Literary Review; Theatre Notebook and Wasafiri.

Global Skills Award

All students registered for a taught Master's programme are eligible to apply for a place on our Global Skills Award Programme. The programme is designed to broaden your understanding of global issues and current affairs as well as to develop personal skills which will enhance your employability.