Health and Medicine in History
Curriculum guideline
Class sections will be divided between lectures and seminar discussions. The seminar discussion sessions will serve as a forum for the analysis and discussion of scholarly literature and as a testing ground for student hypotheses. The instructor will encourage students to elaborate, refine and revise ideas. Discussion sessions will also include tutorials in conducting historical research, the exploration of primary source documents, and practice in oral presentations. Participation in both lectures and seminar discussions is required for the successful completion of the course.
A sample course outline would include the following topics.
Note: Content may vary according to the instructor’s selection of topics
- Introduction – health and medicine in historical perspective
- Ancient medicine and health care
- Greek and Roman medicine to 400AD
- Plague and disease in the Middle Ages
- Faith and science in the Middle Ages
- Anatomy and the Enlightenment
- Imperialism and disease
- Medicine in the eighteenth century
- Anaesthesia, nursing, and other revolutionary nineteenth century developments
- Public health and bodies in the late nineteenth century
- Biomedicine and infectious disease
- “Alternative” medicine
- 21st century innovations and future directions
- Course wrap-up and review
At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:
- Examine historical sources critically and analytically (reading history). These sources include not only survey texts and scholarly articles, but also short monographs and extended primary sources.
- Create and communicate personal interpretations of historical problems (writing history). Forms for communication of personal interpretations include medium-length essays (from 1500-3000 words), comparative book reviews, short interpretive essays, primary source studies, and final examinations.
- Analyze the ideas of other students and the instructor independently and in cooperation with other students (discussing history).
Assessment will be in accord with the DouglasCollege student evaluation policy. Specific components of evaluation will include some of the following: mid-term and final exams consisting of short answer questions and essay questions; in-class written work, quizzes, research paper; seminar presentations; short debate/position papers; participation in class discussions.
Specific evaluation criteria will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the semester and will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods.
An example of one evaluation scheme:
Any combination of the following totalling 100%
| Primary document analyses | 15% |
| Historiographic paper | 15% |
| Seminar presentation x2 (10% each) | 20% |
| Attendance, participation, in class work | 15% |
| Research proposal and annotated bibliography | 15% |
| Final summative assignment and presentation | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Texts will be chosen from the following list, to be updated periodically:
An instructor’s Course Reader may be required.
Bynum, William. The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Conrad, Lawrence. The Western Medical Tradition 800 BC to 1800 AD. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Duffin, Jacalyn. The History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction. 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Porter, Roy, ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Links to electronic editions of other relevant monographs and collections of essays available through the library will be provided in the course syllabus.
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