[ Wesleyan Home Page ] [ WesMaps Home Page ] [ WesMaps Archive ] [ Course Search ] [ Course Search by CID ]
Academic Year 2005/2006

Medicine, the Body, and Society
SOC 261 FA
Crosslistings:
SISP 261

This course explores the interaction of the human body and society, with special (but not exclusive) emphasis on the medical context of illness, injury and healing. We will begin with a brief overview of the history of medicine, focusing on three areas: perceptions of the body, beliefs about illness and healing, and the methods through which the body has become known to us. The second section of the course asks to what extent the human body is a social rather than a natural creation. Here we will study various ways social acts alter the body, both physically (i.e., standards of beauty and health) but also conceptually (i.e., the concept of race). In the final section of the course, we will analyze the metaphorical relationship of the body and society. In this section, we will explore the parallels that have been drawn between the body and society both in medical thought (i.e., the body as microcosm) and in social discourse (i.e., social problems as disease). Substantive topics will depend in part upon the interests of students in the class, but are likely to include dissection, organ transplantation, tattooing, piercing, scarring, contagion and epidemic disease, medical technology, and the classification of the body into different races and sexes.

MAJOR READINGS

Ackerknecht, E., A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Feher, M. (ed.), FRAGMENTS FOR A HISTORY OF THE HUMAN BODY
Foucault, M., THE FOUCAULT READER
Goffman, E., STIGMA
Hatty S. & J. Hatty, THE DISORDERED BODY: EPIDEMIC DISEASE AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
Laqueur, T., MAKING SEX: BODY AND GENDER FROM THE GREEKS TO FREUD
Rosenberg, C., and J. Golden (eds.), FRAMING DISEASE: STUDIES IN CULTURAL HISTORY
Sontag, S., ILLNESS AS METAPHOR AND AIDS AND ITS METAPHORS
Wailoo, K., DYING IN THE CITY OF THE BLUES: SICKLE CELL ANEMIA AND THE POLITICS OF RACE AND HEALTH

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One take-home essay examination (8-10 pages)
One research paper (15-20 pages)
Two class presentations
Attendance and participation

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Most of the readings listed above will be in the course, but there may be some additions and subtractions. There will be additional required readings available on electronic reserve.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS SOC    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: SOC151 OR SOC152 Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email

Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459