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TERM:2020-21 Fall
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 340
COURSE TITLE: Medicine and Society, 1800-Present (Formerly HIST 346)
NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Caroline Lieffers
CREDIT WEIGHT AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION: credits 3(hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 0 - hrs lab 0)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores experiences of medicine and health in the modern Western world, concentrating on the period from about 1800 to the present. Topics to be discussed include the social roles of different medical practitioners, women in medicine, medical experimentation, epidemics, tensions between public health and civil liberties, and depictions of medicine and disability in popular media.

Students who have taken HIST 346 will not receive credit for HIST 340.

Prerequisites: 3 credits in history
REQUIRED TEXTS: There is no required textbook for the course. Resources will be available via Moodle.
MARK DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT:
Reading Responses (five responses at 2% each) 10%
Midterm Exam (take-home)25%
Research Paper Proposal5%
Research Paper (2000 words)30%
Final Exam 30%
100%
COURSE OBJECTIVES:By the end of the course, students will be able to
  1. Recognize and describe key events and concepts in the history of medicine from 1800-present
  2. Think critically about history and demonstrate skills in historical analysis, both in discussions and in writing
  3. Carry out thoughtful and informed reading and discussion of primary and secondary sources, with attention to historical context, perspectives, themes, evidence, and arguments
  4. Demonstrate skill in essay writing and arugmentation
COURSE OUTLINE:
  • Wednesday, September 9: Introduction, syllabus, and background
Health Cultures and Health Practitioners
    • Friday, September 11: Indigenous Health
      • Required Reading: Le Page du Pratz
      • Andrew Blackbird
    • Monday, September 14: Orthodox Medicine
      • Required Reading: “George Washington’s Physicians”
    • Wednesday, September 16: Orthodox Medicine
      • Required Reading: Rosenberg, “Belief and Ritual in Antebellum Medical Therapeutics”
    • Friday, September 18: A Closer Look at Midwifery and Childbirth
      • Required Reading: Ulrich, “Martha Ballard”
    • Monday, September 21: Midwifery and Childbirth Continued
      • Required Reading: Channing, Midwifery
      • Elizabeth Drinker’s account of childbirth
    • Wednesday, September 23: NO CLASS – IS CONFERENCE
    • Friday, September 25: Indigenous Midwifery in Canada: A Similar Story?
      • Required Reading: Kristin Burnett, “Giving Birth,” pages 47-66
    • Monday, September 28: Unorthodox Medicine
      • Required Reading: Samuel Thomson
    • Wednesday, September 30: Women and Unorthodox Medicine
      • Required Reading: Mary Gove Nichols
      • “Domestic Practitioners” on Water Cure
    • Friday, October 2: Unorthodox Medicine Continued & PAPER PROPOSAL DUE
    • Monday, October 5: Medicine and Healing Under Slavery
      • Required Reading: Fett, “Sacred Plants” 68-83
    • Wednesday, October 7: Medicine and Healing Under Slavery Continued
      • Required Reading: Spettel and White, “J. Marion Sims”
      • Optional Reading: Samuel Cartwright (Warning – racist content)
    • Friday, October 9: A Different Perspective – Professionalizing Healing in Ghana
      • Required Reading: Osseo-Asare, “Writing Medical Authority”
    • Monday, October 12: NO CLASS
New Developments in Medical Authority
    • Wednesday, October 14: Surgery and Anesthesia
      • Required Reading: Pernick, “Pain, the Calculus of Suffering, and Antebellum Surgery”
      • “A Yale Medical Student”
    • Friday, October 16: New Developments in Epidemiology and Etiology
    • Monday, October 19: Tuberculosis and the Moral Crusade
      • Required Reading: Tomes, “Moralizing the Microbe”
    • Wednesday, October 21: Discrimination and Public Health
    • Friday, October 23: MIDTERM REVIEW
    • Monday, October 26: MIDTERM EXAM
The Golden Age of Medicine
    • Wednesday, October 28: The Golden Age of Medicine
    • Friday, October 30: Women and the Golden Age of Medicine
      • Required Reading: Apple, “Scientific Motherhood”
    • Monday, November 2: Twilight Sleep
    • Wednesday, November 4: Eugenics
      • Required Reading: Bollinger Baby
    • Friday, November 6: Eugenics Continued
    • Monday, November 9: Atomic Casualties
      • Required Reading: Serlin, “Hiroshima Maidens”
    • Wednesday, November 11: NO CLASS – REMEMBRANCE DAY
    • Friday, November 13: The Golden Age of Medicine in the Postwar Era
    • Monday, November 16: Socialized Medicine
      • Required Reading: Socialized Medicine
    • Wednesday, November 18: Indigenous People and the Golden Age of Medicine
      • Required Reading: Olofsson et al., Inuit Evacuees
    • Friday, November 20: Birth Control Before the War
      • Required Reading: Tone, “Contraceptive Consumers”
    • Monday, November 23: Birth Control in the Sexual Revolution
  • The End of the Golden Age of Medicine
    • Wednesday, November 25: Medical Experimentation: Tuskegee
      • Required Reading: Smith, “Neither Victim nor Villain”
    • Friday, November 27: Tuskegee Continued & RESEARCH PAPER DUE
    • Monday, November 30: Medical Experimentation Continued
      • Required Reading: Extract about Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
    • Wednesday, December 2: Psychiatric Controversies
      • Required Reading: Rosenhan Experiment
    • Friday, December 4: Doctors, Cigarettes, and Deception
      • Required Reading: Oreskes and Conway, “Doubt is Our Product”
    • Monday, December 7: AIDS: When Medicine is Political
    • Wednesday, December 9: COVID, Epidemics, and Public Trust
      • Required Reading: TBD
    • Friday, December 11: FINAL EXAM REVIEW

Required texts, assignments, and grade distributions may vary from one offering of this course to the next. Please consult the course instructor for up to date details.

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