This course is intended to introduce students to important conversations about how the human body and bodily dispositions have been understood and represented in the history of medicine. This class focuses on how human beings' mental and physical health are interconnected in theories and practices. We examine the Western and Eastern understanding of the pre-modern/modern/non-dualism/dualism of body and mind in medicine (Diversity and Intercultural Competency, Perspectives). Then, we explore how modern alternative medicine has revived a non-dualistic understanding of health in practice. It is a basic principle that all medicine must be understood in relation to the broader culture in which it is practiced ((Contextual Factors). For example, in the Middle Ages, medicine was based on the ancient Greek idea that the body (the microcosm) reflects the cosmos (the macrocosm) in Europe. Christian theology upheld this principle and maintained further that the body of Jesus held the divine and human worlds together. This also happened to the Far East. Contemporary Chinese and Korean medicine, for example, preserve close connections to traditional Confucianist and Taoist understandings of the body. Even when the medicine slowly started to depart from religious traditions in modern society, we still find that religious/spiritual/philosophical metaphors are strongly rooted in modern medicine, needless to refer to alternative medicine and new approaches to diagnose and to treat diseases (Diversity and Intercultural Competency, Contextual Factors). This course thus traces some of the basic information and relational structures necessary to make sense of the broader culture in which culture understood human bodies, and treated mental and bodily illness. How did their experiences of pain, sex, childbirth, and death interact with larger concepts of God, nature, and the stars (Global Systems)? What role did minds and souls play? First-hand accounts by ancient/pre-modern/modern writers provide the main platform from which we get a picture of people’s relation to their own bodies and the world around them. Secondary readings are drawn from history (especially the history of medicine), pandemic studies, and psychology. Satisfies SEEDS Analyzing Cultures and Societies student learning outcome in alignment with Diversity and Intercultural Competency value. Meets Gen Ed - Interdisciplinary Studies.
Prerequisite(s): PHIL 100 or PHIL 102 or PHIL 106. A study of moral decision making in regard to specific moral problems arising in such areas of contemporary medical research and practice as experimentation on human subjects, euthanasia, abortion, information rights of patients, and eugenic sterilization. Mutually Exclusive with PHIL 204.
This course introduces students to Narrative Medicine: an interdisciplinary approach that uses storytelling, close reading, and reflective writing to strengthen communication and empathy in healthcare. Developed by Rita Charon, Narrative Medicine emphasizes listening to patients’ stories as a way to reduce provider burnout and promote compassionate care. Students will engage with literature, music, and art, produce reflective writing, and conduct interviews with community members to explore how storytelling shapes healing and human connection. As part of this community-engaged component, students will make one in-person visit to listen to and document the story of an adult in the community; satisfies SEEDS Interactive Communication student learning outcome in alignment with Self-Discovery and Self-Care value.
Prerequisite(s): PHIL 204 or MEDH 204 or approval of the Medical Humanities Program Director. This course explores how writers portray the experience of illness in works of fiction, drama, and poetry. Students will read a selection of such classics as Shelley’s Frankenstein, Tolstoy’s Death of Ivan Ilyich, Mann’s Death in Venice, Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and Camus’s The Plague. The course also investigates the fundamental role that narrative plays in our understanding of health and illness. Students will examine nonfiction ranging from patients’ memoirs and advocacy narratives to the embedded narratives in the files, charts, and other records resulting from the clinical encounter. The course will explore a range of subjects over which both literature and medicine have a stake, including representations of disease and dying, the nature of madness and depression, medical authority and patients’ rights, and the importance of empathy in the treatment of illness. Meets Graduation Writing Requirement for majors in Medical Humanities.
Prerequisite(s): PHIL 204 or MEDH 204 or any 200-level ENGL course or any 200-level AMSD course. This interdisciplinary course examines the racial, religious, class-based, and gendered dynamics that impact healing beyond doctor-patient relationships in the U.S., broadly defined as “American” to accommodate cross-border identities. Performances related to health help us understand the relationship between communal identity and healing, legacies of discrimination, and the policies and prejudices that affect private health matters in pan-American history and culture. Students analyze scientific studies and the performative aspects of healing in medical narratives, memoirs, fiction, drama, film, and other visual media. Students will leave the course with a greater understanding about the ways in which collective care, communal engagement, and access shape the history, narrative, and performance of healing in America.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 205 or MEDH 204 or PHIL 204. Special topics related to Medical Humanities. Topic announced each semester. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credits.
Prerequisite(s): MEDH 301 or permission of the Medical Humanities Program Director. This course provides students with the opportunity to engage in a faculty‐supervised project tailored to their interests and career goals. Students may conduct original research on a problem related to any Medical Humanities subfield, including (but not limited to) medical anthropology, bioethics, the history of medicine, the sociology of illness, narrative medicine, and health‐related religious studies. Alternatively, students may provide program or research assistance in a healthcare institution or non‐profit health‐related organization. Examples might include placement in organizations providing patient advocacy, social services, addiction treatment, palliative care, hospice care, or medical translation. Students may also observe primary care providers at work in doctor’s offices, clinics, or hospitals. Students will gain practical experience in academic or professional writing. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits.