HST 260 - History of Medicine in America

Credits: 3

This course will focus on the United States and will explore the construction of medical knowledge, the development of professionalized medicine, shifting ideas about the causes and cures of disease, and tensions between public health and individual autonomy. This course has two guiding ideas. First, the history of medicine is the history of how people from wide-ranging backgrounds experienced sickness and pursued health. Second, medical practices and ideologies reflect and shape social values and structures across time. This means that studying the history of medicine also teaches us histories of race, gender, class, and capitalism.

Repeatable: May not be repeated for credit
Lecture: 3
Lab: 0
Discussion: 0
Clinical: 0
Cross-Listed: HST 360