Unit name | Death, Doctors and Disease (Level H Lecture Response Unit) |
---|---|
Unit code | HIST30025 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Victoria Bates |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This Lecture Response Unit will examine the history of medicine and health in modern Britain. It will consider issues such as the history of infectious disease, from TB to AIDS, and the emergence of chronic 'diseases of modern life'. This unit will also examine particular sub-fields of the medical profession, such as psychiatry, and will examine medicine in different contexts. It will pay attention both to the history of medicine 'from above', including the emergence of the NHS, and to recent efforts to write histories 'from below' that examine patients' experiences and narrative of illness. Overall, in this unit we will study a range of aspects of medicine and health to re-evaluate narratives of 'progress' and to question whether medical advances have been inherently beneficial for mankind.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed:
1 x 2-hour interactive lecture per week.
One summative coursework essay of 3000 words (50%) and one unseen examination of two hours (50%). Both elements will assess ILOs 1-4.
Burnham, John, What is Medical History? (Cambridge, 2005).
Cooter, Roger, and John V. Pickstone (eds.), Medicine in the Twentieth Century (Amsterdam, 2000).
Hardy, Anne, Health and Medicine in Britain Since 1860 (London, 2001).
Jackson, Mark, (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine (Oxford, 2011).
Pickstone, John V., Ways of Knowing: A New History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Manchester, 2000).
Porter, Roy, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present (London, 1997).