- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Body and Medicine in American Culture: Social Sciences Perspective 4219-SH0024-OG
The course offers students theoretical tools developed by social scientists, which allow for a critical understanding of cultural phenomena surrounding the body, concepts of health and disease, medicine and medicalization. The students will gain historical and anthropological knowledge on the use of various substances; intersections of medicine, magic and ritual; and the development of Western medicine (“bio-medicine). Finally, we will examine the relationships between the State and bodily politics in nation-building projects, as well as various examples of political contexts for the use of drugs and medicine. The course is fit for BA students. The course offers examples of social phenomena in the intersection of health and politics; deconstructs the idea of medical authority; questions the interactions of medicalization and criminalization; offers an introduction into necropolitics. The course touches on both social problems and their media representations.
Type of course
general courses
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
On completing this course the students will have learnt:
• Some foundational concepts in medical anthropology
• About various cultural contexts of body, medicine and substances
• About the interactions of politics, medicine and bodily politics
The students will learn to:
• Critically think about the medical discourse and its historical conditions
• Problematize the role of medical discourses in American life and politics
• Analyze the image and archetypes of doctors and medical professionals in texts of American culture
• Work in groups and discuss complicated issues in a public forum
Assessment criteria
The grade consists of:
20% class activity, taking part in discussions and applying theorretical concepts to
80% research paper, app 1500 words, outlining a promising direction of studying the body and medicine in American culture
Bibliography
• A Reader in Medical Anthropology: Theoretical Trajectories, Emergent Realities, ed. B.J. Good, M. J. Fischer, S. Willen, Mary-Jo DelVecchio Good, 2010
• The Routledge Handbook of Medical Anthropology, ed. L. Manderson, E. Cartwright, A. Hardon, Routledge, 2012
• Fantastic Fungi, 2019 reż. Louie Schwartzberg, USA, dostępny na Netflix.
• Michel Foucault: The History of Sexuality vol. 1, Vintage books ed., New York, 1990
• Michel Foucault: The Birth of Biopolitics. Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008
• Michelle Murphy: Seizing the Means of Reproduction. Entanglements of Feminism, Health, and Technoscience, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2012
• Paul B. Preciado, Bruce Benderson: Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era, The Feminist Press at CUNY, New York, 2013
• Nnemarie Mol: The body multiple. Ontology in medical Practice, Duke University Press, Durham, 2002
• TV shows: “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Doctor House” and others
Additional information
Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:
- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: