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HIS42940

Academic Year 2024/2025

Body, Disease and Society (HIS42940)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Alice Mauger
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

How have perceptions of bodies and diseases changed over time?

To what extent have modern medicine and medical knowledge played a role in changing attitudes and concepts?

How has the language of bodily “difference” evolved and shifted in social and medical environments?

In these contexts, how have intersectionalities of race, ethnicity, and nationality been incorporated or appropriated? Equally, what was the role of gender, sexuality, and class in causing marginality?

How have “patients”, sick people and the wider public been viewed and how have they presented themselves? And, what impact have literature, TV and film had on our perceptions of what it means to be sick or healthy?

In this module we explore the key approaches used by historians of the body and medicine when attempting to address these questions. Using a range of primary and secondary material we will examine competing theories and ideas to develop students’ critical understanding of the burgeoning histories of the body and medicine.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module you should:
• have developed study, writing and communication skills appropriate to level 4
• have developed a critical understanding of the history and historiography of medicine
• be able to assess a range of historical and inter-disciplinary approaches
• be able to critically analyse historical sources and evaluate a range of primary material and their potential use to historians appropriate to level 4

Indicative Module Content:

This module will address topics including:
- the rise of modern medicine
- murder, mutilation and medical knowledge
- disability, freakery, and difference
- the patient’s view of sickness and health
- colonialism, disease and the body
- alternative medicine
- marginalisation: gender and sexuality
- marginalisation: race and ethnicity
- cultural representations of sickness and health

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Specified Learning Activities

90
Autonomous Student Learning

108
Total

220

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module comprises 2-hour weekly seminars. Seminars focus on small-group active and task-based learning by means of class debates and discussion. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary and secondary sources. Student reflection is promoted by weekly learning journals. The assessment strategies include a creative response assignment (e.g. a podcast/video/blog post designed by each student) for engaging with non-academic audiences. Advanced research, writing and citations skills are developed through an end-of-semester essay.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Reflective Assignment: Continuous Assessment: Learning journals and participation in class discussion Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No

30

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay: Final project/essay (4,000) Week 14 Graded No

40

 No
Individual Project: Creative Response for Non-Academic Audience Week 7 Graded No

30

 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on learning journals is given to the class throughout the trimester, and individually mid-trimester. Feedback on the Creative Response Assignment will be given individually after submission and grading. Feedback on end-of-semester essays is given individually and to the class on drafts and essays plans before final submission, and in writing on Brightspace after submission and grading.

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