Education About Asia: Online Archives

Teaching Medical Anthropology in Nepal: Of Doctors, Journals, and Web Sites

Back to search results
Download PDF

For two consecutive years, in 1999 and 2000, undergraduate and graduate students from Auburn University in Alabama participated in a study abroad class that I designed entitled “Medical Anthropology in Nepal.” The course is a hybrid of in-class preparatory lectures and seventeen days of intensive study in Nepal. This article is intended to provide a review of the traditional and nontraditional forms of learning used in the course, a summary of the travel planning process, and some guidelines for those interested in planning similar courses with travel components. With most study abroad courses in Nepal being at least one semester, and typically one year long, the medical anthropology course is unique as a study abroad course in that it is short by comparison.