STS 2071

STS 2071

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

This course offers an introductory survey of the history of medicine (principally in Europe and the United States) from classical antiquity to the early twentieth century. Using a combination of both primary and secondary sources, students will learn about the "Hippocratic Heritage" of contemporary western medicine; medicine in late antiquity; faith and healing in the medieval period; medicine and knowledge in the Islamic world; medicine during the Renaissance (particularly the rise of the mechanical philosophy); medicine in the age of Enlightenment; professionalization, women-doctors and midwives, and battles over 'quackery' in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the role of medicine in colonialism and empire; and the promises and perils of modern medicine (dramatic decreases in mortality on the one hand, the rise of Eugenics and the importance of Medicine to the National Socialist State on the other). As well as this temporal survey, we will consider a number of ongoing themes: race, bodily difference, and medicine; medicine and the environment; women, gender, and medicine; the history of the body; the history of sexuality; and the close connections between forms of social order and forms of medical knowledge. The course meets three times a week (for two lectures and a section) and is open to all.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (HST-AS) (HA-AG)

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: BSOC 2071HIST 2710

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 10038 STS 2071   LEC 001

  • Instruction Mode: In Person
    Enrollment limited by: college and expected graduation year. To add yourself to the wait list, see https://forms.gle/bdPGULz6bgX48rXg8.

  • 10353 STS 2071   DIS 201

    • F Clark Hall 294G
    • Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024
    • Seth, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 10354 STS 2071   DIS 202

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 10355 STS 2071   DIS 203

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 10356 STS 2071   DIS 204

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 10357 STS 2071   DIS 205

    • F White Hall B02
    • Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024
    • Seth, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 11744 STS 2071   DIS 206

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 11745 STS 2071   DIS 207

    • F White Hall B14
    • Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024
    • Seth, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person