Medical Anthropology
Minor Department of Anthropology · UC Irvine · 2026-2027 Catalog
The Medical Anthropology Minor is designed for students seeking expertise in cross-cultural understandings of illness, medicine, and the body. Students learn to analyze the experience and meanings of illness; understandings of the human body; cross-cultural mental health; social and political disease ecologies; medical practice and biotechnologies; and relationships among gender, race, class, medicine, and science.
A particular emphasis is on the political and economic forces that shape disease burdens and the contributions medical anthropology can make to efforts to achieve global health equity. The minor is open to students in any school and offers excellent preparation for students interested in careers in clinical medicine, nursing, pharmacy, biological research, public health, and environmental health.
Requirements
Medical Anthropology Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Medical Anthropology are met by taking seven Anthropology courses (28 units) as specified below:
| Course | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| A. Complete the following: | ||
| ANTHRO 2A | Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology | |
| B. Select one of the following: | ||
| ANTHRO 2B | Introduction to Biological Anthropology | |
| ANTHRO 2C | Introduction to Archaeology | |
| ANTHRO 2D | Introduction to Language and Culture | |
| C. Select one of the following: | ||
| ANTHRO 30A | Global Issues in Anthropological Perspective | |
| ANTHRO 100B | Anthropology Careers | |
| D. Complete: | ||
| ANTHRO 134A | Medical Anthropology | |
| E. Select three topical courses (12 units) from the following: | ||
| ANTHRO 25A | Environmental Injustice | |
| ANTHRO 121D | Cross-Cultural Studies of Gender | |
| ANTHRO 125F | Humans and Other Animals | |
| ANTHRO 128A | Science, Technology, Controversy | |
| ANTHRO 128B | Race, Gender, and Science | |
| ANTHRO 128D | Science and Myth | |
| ANTHRO 129 | Special Topics: Social and Economic Anthropology | |
| ANTHRO 132A | Psychological Anthropology | |
| ANTHRO 134B | Cultures of Biomedicine | |
| ANTHRO 134C | Medicine, Food, and Health | |
| ANTHRO 134F | Anthropology of the Body | |
| ANTHRO 134I | Comics and Medicine | |
| ANTHRO 134N | Disease, Health, and Inequality | |
| ANTHRO 136K | The Woman and the Body | |
| ANTHRO 139 | Special Topics in Cultural and Psychological Anthropology (special topics, by petition to the Undergraduate Director) | |
| SOCIOL 154 | Medical Sociology | |
Residence Requirement for the Minors: The four required upper-division courses must be completed successfully at UCI. Two of the four may be taken through the UC Education Abroad Program, provided course content is approved in advance by the Undergraduate Director of the Department of Anthropology.
NOTE: Students may complete only one of the following programs: the major in Anthropology, the minor in Anthropology, or the minor in Medical Anthropology.