Master of Science (MSc) in Anthropology

Health, illness, and treatment are conditions that touch all human beings; therefore, all societies must address them by developing medical knowledge, training practitioners, preventing illness, and caring for those who nevertheless become ill. When human beings become ill, many challenges often lie before them. Doctors and other health specialists are sought out, therapeutic options are negotiated and agreed upon, family life is coordinated, etc.

In addition to these changes and challenges to daily life, periods of illness or diagnoses can also trigger personal and family crises. Because of the ethnographic method’s focus on human relations, sense of self, and meaning-making, anthropology has demonstrated special strengths in studies of how individuals, families and other communities understand, manage, and treat illness, and strive for a healthy life.

In particular, the Anthropology of Health looks at how human beings’ efforts to secure health and treat illness are shaped by and contingent on local, national, and international institutions and political processes, and how inequalities in health are thereby created, maintained, or challenged. Another important focus is the use of new biomedical technologies that often raise difficult medical, moral and socioeconomic questions. In this way, during the last decades, the Anthropology of Health has become a well-established and internationally recognized subdiscipline within anthropology, while it has remained a central point of departure for research of societies and cultures in general.

When you specialize in anthropology health, it will require entail focus on the chosen theme in your coursework, fieldwork and thesis. In order to be eligible for the specialization track, you must do at least one optional Anthropological course of 7.5 ECTS + your fieldwork and master's thesis within the specialty field. Once you hand in your thesis, you can apply to have the specialization explicitly stated on your final transcript.

You can check which courses are offered in the specialisation track in Anthropology of Health at courses.ku.dk.

Business- and Organisational Anthropology (BOA) studies business activities and life in organisations by anthropological methods and theory.

Anthropological theories of culture and social organisation have already for many years inspired business professionals to pursue in-depth understanding of human, social interaction.

Anthropological studies of:

• organisation
• social hierarchy
• gender
• communication,
• ritual
• creativity
• performance
• economic exchange
• knowledge-formation

- and many other forms of human action have informed industries and organisations worldwide to enhance and develop their production in an often more sustainable and resilient direction.

Business strategy, management theory, design methodology, HR work relations and organisational practice have for several decennia drawn on ethnographic methodology to produce and analyse data on the needs and concerns of stakeholders such as clients, employees and end-users.

BOA builds on this research as well as on classic ethnographic methodology and anthropological theory to equip students to pursue their own well-informed ethnographic research in Denmark or elsewhere in the world.

Often working in collaboration with organisations in public enterprise, design companies, engineering and other business sectors, students build and analyse their own ethnographic data, thus contributing to a better understanding of the lives, perceptions and needs of clients, end-users and other stakeholders.

By deepening understandings of what has often been called "the human factor" in business, students not only contribute to concrete innovation processes and product development in enterprises and organisations, but also add their findings to the growing field of BOA scientific research.

Graduates of BOA work in such diverse fields as design & innovation, HR consultancy, public sector services, marketing and social advocacy.

When you specialize in Business- and organisational Anthropology, it will require entail focus on the chosen theme in your coursework, fieldwork and thesis. In order to be eligible for the specialization track, you must do at least one optional Anthropological course of 7.5 ECTS + your fieldwork and master's thesis within the specialty field. Once you hand in your thesis, you can apply to have the specialization explicitly stated on your final transcript. 

You can check which courses are offered in the specialisation track in Business and Organisational Anthropology at courses.ku.dk.