School of Social and Political Science

History of Medicine

What is, and was, medicine? How and why have ideas about health, healing, and the human body changed over time? Who has medical expertise today, and how is that different to the past? This course offers a general introduction to the history of medicine over the last two thousand years. It uses that history to help students develop critical tools for thinking about the politics of science and medicine today.

We explore the changing faces of medical practice, and ask how medical authority has moved between nurses, doctors, philosophers, scientists, healers, midwives, and patients. We consider how concepts of gender, 'race', disability, and sexuality have been embedded in medicine, and how they have shaped healing practices. We discuss historical ideas of health and medicine in different parts of the world, and examine whether and when medicine has been colonial, and if it has ever been 'global'. Using the rich heritage here in Edinburgh, students develop methods of 'reading' histories embedded in objects, images, places, and films, and are encouraged to reflect on uses of history in their own disciplines and the wider world.

  • To develop critical tools for thinking historically about the politics, social relations, and organization of medical knowledge and practice.
  • To discuss the diversity of ideas about health and illness, their causes and treatment, and the changing views of the body and of society that have prevailed in medicine in different places and historical periods
  • To discuss how ideas about health and illness and the organisation of health care are informed by the wider social and cultural context in which they are articulated
  • To critically evaluate the use of evidence (primary and secondary sources) in historical argument, and exercise basic essay-writing skills using secondary historical scholarship
  • To recognise and critically engage with uses of history in different fields of study

This is a level 8 course with 20 credits

There will be 2 lectures per week, and 1 tutorial per week, in Semester 1.