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HIS42940

Academic Year 2025/2026

Body, Disease and Society (HIS42940)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Oluwaseun Williams
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?

The interconnectedness of disease, race, climate, environment, and imperialism in the nineteenth century.

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

In these contexts, we investigate how public health initiatives served the broader ‘civilising mission’ by othering, alienating, and racialising colonial subjects and medical practices.

We study the global spread of diseases and what contributed to the emergence of epidemics in both colonial and global contexts?

We explore the influence of British colonialism and imperialism in the emergence of ‘tropical medicine’ as a distinct scientific discipline in the late nineteenth century.

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 public health and modern medicine
- murder, mutilation and medical knowledge
- disability, freakery, and difference
- the patient’s view of sickness and health
- disease and envirorment
- colonialism, disease and the body
- epidemics
- tropical medicine
- marginalisation: gender and sexuality
- 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. 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
Participation in Learning Activities: Continuous Assessment: 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
20
 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
40
 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 class participation is given to the students during each class throughout the trimester, and individually if requested. 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.

Name Role
Manikarnika Dutta Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Steven Taylor Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Morgan Wait Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 14:00 - 15:50
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