This 10-week evening course introduces students to the rich interdisciplinary field of medical and health humanities. Drawing from literature, philosophy, history, visual culture, and the arts, the course explores how our experiences and perceptions of illness, health, care, and the body are shaped by culture and narrative. Students will critically examine how medicine is represented in media and society, and how humanities-based approaches can deepen empathy, challenge assumptions, and offer alternative ways of thinking about care, diagnosis, and recovery.

Course Description

This 10-week evening course introduces students to the rich interdisciplinary field of medical and health humanities. Drawing from literature, philosophy, history, visual culture, and the arts, the course explores how our experiences and perceptions of illness, health, care, and the body are shaped by culture and narrative. Students will critically examine how medicine is represented in media and society, and how humanities-based approaches can deepen empathy, challenge assumptions, and offer alternative ways of thinking about care, diagnosis, and recovery.

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Weekly Outline:

Week 1: Introducing Medical and Health Humanities

• Overview of the field: key concepts and approaches

• Foucault’s medical gaze and the rise of clinical authority

• Narrative medicine and the power of storytelling in clinical practice

Week 2: Illness Narratives, Memoirs, and Memory

• The personal experience of illness through memoirs and diaries

• Autopathography and the body as text

• Memory, voice, and the ethics of telling illness stories

Week 3: Cancer, Culture, and Care

• Cultural narratives of cancer: metaphors, language, and stigma

• Patient agency and medical authority

• Experiences of care and survivorship

Week 4: Feminism, Medicalisation, and Wellness Culture

• Reproductive health, birth, and the gendered body

• Critiques of medicalisation from feminist perspectives

• Wellness, self-tracking, and the neoliberal health subject

Week 5: Madness and Mental Health

• Historical and cultural constructions of madness

• Representation of mental illness in literature and art

• Lived experience and the psychiatric encounter

Week 6: Disability and d/Deaf Cultures

• The social vs. medical model of disability

• Cultural contributions of disabled and d/Deaf artists and thinkers

• Visibility, stigma, and resistance

Week 7: Trauma and the Senses

• Embodiment and sensory responses to trauma

• PTSD and narrative breakdown

• Art, literature, and the aesthetics of trauma

Week 8: Attitudes to Aging and Death

• Cultural representations of aging, dying, and end-of-life care

• Loneliness, dignity, and the ethics of aging

• Creative approaches to mourning and memorialisation

Week 9: Illness on Film

• Analysis of key films representing illness and healthcare

• Cinematic language and the body on screen

• Disability, narrative tropes, and visual ethics

Week 10: The Lost Art of Convalescence

• Historical and literary perspectives on rest and recovery

• The politics of productivity and 'bouncing back'

• Reimagining healing beyond cure

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Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand core concepts and debates within medical and health humanities

• Analyse cultural representations of health, illness, and care in literature, film, and media

• Reflect critically on how narratives shape medical practices and patient experiences

• Engage with diverse perspectives on mental health, disability, trauma, and aging

• Apply interdisciplinary approaches to real-world questions of health, ethics, and embodiment