About Health Humanities

Health humanities problematises the relationship between health, knowledge and power through critical, interdisciplinary humanities and social scientific methodologies.

You will be challenged to interrogate claims of objectivity and progress associated with contemporary biomedicine, and to consider how the social world shapes our encounters with clinical care and public health initiatives.

Why choose Health Humanities?

You will consider the experiences of health and illness of past and present, urban and rural, local and migrant, in peace and conflict. This area of study is particularly suited for students interested in a career in the health, NGO and governmental sectors, with this major providing a unique qualification and set of skills for the Australian and international job market.

What will you study?

In the major’s core units, particular attention is paid to a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach that puts different qualitative and quantitative fields into dialogue to reveal a complex picture of health as lived experience.

Based in anthropology, history, sociology, bioethics, literary studies, communications, and other disciplines, the elective units engage with a range of themes, especially gender, sexuality and reproductive health; narrative, performance and representation; and ecologies and economies of health.

Career opportunities

Studying Health Humanities will prepare you to be in a position to work with local, state, regional and global authorities and other stakeholders to improve understandings of health and disease and expand the toolkits for tackling concerns at the heart of the human condition.

This major does not lead to a career as clinical practitioner or public health professional. Rather, it offers a critical perspective on health through the analytical and methodological tools of the humanities and social sciences.

Global study

With Monash’s impressive international links, you will get the opportunity to venture into new and challenging contexts where you can apply your expertise.

Study tours include:

• Science, society and culture in European history – Italy
• Field methods in anthropology and international development – Malaysia.

Global Immersion Guarantee:

As a Bachelor of Arts student, you will have access to the Monash Global Immersion Guarantee – an opportunity to spend two weeks studying in one of a variety of locations, with airfares and accommodation covered as part of your degree.