HIS-30100 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23

What was it like to be sick or injured in England prior to the use of anaesthetics and antibiotics? How many sorts of medical practitioner could people call on, and what range of treatments was on offer? Medical history has thrived recently, in terms of the resources available for research, the questions tackled and the high profile of historical researchers like the late Roy Porter. Therefore this module treats aspects of the social history of medicine in England, by considering the changes experienced by both medical practitioners and patients from Harvey's publication relating to the circulation of blood in 1628 up to the 1808 County Asylums Act (the first major intervention by government in the provision of healthcare). This was a period of relatively minor scientific change, but the same decades witnessed significant shifts in the ways doctors related to patients and the ways the sick conceptualized both their ailments and their medical attendants.
Topics may include childbirth and midwifery, the loss of the patient narrative, disease and mortality, the rise of institutional medical care, quackery and the medical market place, insanity, and perceptions of medical practitioners in graphic satire.

This module will consider aspects of the social history of medicine in England, comprising changes experienced by both medical practitioners and patients, from Harvey&©s discovery of the circulation of blood in 1628 up to the 1808 County Asylums Act.

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise and explain the changing ways in which people perceived human bodies and experienced illness (in conjunction with the changing responses to or by medical personnel in this period); will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
consider and discuss the relationship between contemporary debates about health, illness and medicine and their historical context; will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
evaluate and critically assess a range of primary sources and to use them appropriately in the development of historical analysis; will be achieved by assessments: 2
practice and refine their ability to write creatively in a history of medicine context; will be achieved by assessments: 1
employ genre writing to demonstrate EITHER appreciation of the complexities of historical debate OR empathy with historical figures. will be achieved by assessments: 1

Study hours

20 seminar attendance, 50 seminar preparation and formative assessment, 40 essay preparation and completion, 40 exercise preparation and completion

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment