Past Courses
Spring 2010 | Fall 2009 | Spring 2007 | Fall 2006
Spring 2010
HSHM 235, EPIDEMICS AND SOCIETY IN THE WEST SINCE 1600. Frank Snowden, MW 10:30-11:20
A study of the impact of epidemic diseases such as bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, and AIDS on society, public health, and the medical profession in comparative and international perspective. Topics include popular culture and mass hysteria, the mortality revolution, urban renewal and rebuilding, sanitation, the germ theory of disease, the emergence of scientific medicine, and debates over the biomedical model of disease.
HSHM 429, PUBLIC HEALTH ETHICS IN GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1800. Mandisa Mbali, W 3:30-5:20
This seminar analyzes how ethical theories and values have shaped the history of public health in multiple countries from 1800 to the present. It also explores the influence of principles such as justice and approaches such as utilitarianism and human rights on the historical development of public health, globally.
HSHM 440, HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND THE MAKING OF MODERNITY. Ivano Dal Prete, M 1:30-3:20
This course explores the role of controversies on the age and evolution of the Earth in western culture and society. Emphasis will be placed on the interactions of natural history with chronology, astronomy and theology; Millenarianism and Earth sciences; the exploration of the underground and its visual representations; creationist vs. eternalist beliefs.
HSHM 441, SEX, GENDER AND SCIENCE. Leon Rocha, Th 3:30-5:20
This seminar series introduces students to some of the best scholarship on nineteenth and twentieth century women in science and on the relationship between sex, gender, feminism and scientific knowledge.
HSHM 449, AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY IN THE 20TH CENTURY. Miranda Paton, T 3:30-5:20
This course examines the history of American technology in the 20th century, and the special historiographic issues raised by studies of the relationship between machines and culture. It explores a variety of technologies from electricity to cars, radio and telephones, to vibrators, birth control, the internet and biotechnology. We will also consider the problem of defining technology and writing critical histories about machines that express and shape social agendas.
HSHM 462, SCIENCE, DRAMA, AND CINEMA. Bettyann Kevles, W 1:30-3:20
Themes in science, technology, and medicine as they have figured in twentieth-century plays written and produced in the United States and Europe. Fictive treatments compared with historical reality. Playwrights include Ibsen, Brecht, Capek, Frayn, Stoppard, Margaret Edson, and Cassandra Medley.
HSHM 202, HSHM 634, MEDIA AND MEDICINE IN MODERN AMERICA. John Harley Warner and Gretchen Berland, TTh 10:30-11:20
An exploration of the relationships among medicine, health, and the media in the United States from 1870 through the present. Focus on newspapers, magazines, professional journals, advertising, exhibitions, radio, film, television, and the internet; and on interactions among researchers, health professions, medical and public health institutions, journalists, advocacy organizations, the state, industry, and the public. Topics include the changing role of the media in shaping conceptions of the body; creating new diseases, influencing health and health policy; crafting the image of the medical profession; informing expectations of medicine and constructions of citizenship; and the medicalization of American life.
HSHM 225, HSHM 647, MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN LATIN AMERICA, 1820-2000. Mariola Espinosa, TTh 11:35-12:25
Survey the history of medicine in Latin America from Independence to the present, focusing on the relationships of disease and public health with the construction of state and nation in the countries of the region. Themes include medicine's role in the production and reproduction of race and ethnicity, the treatment of indigenous medical traditions, the sources and consequences of international disease-control efforts, and persisting inequalities in health and health care.
HSHM 431/HSHM 653, SCIENCE AND SPECTACLE IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT. Paola Bertucci, T 1:30-3:20
The central role of the human body in medical and experimental research; the spread of nonconventional therapies; the rise of a public culture of science; and attempts to naturalize gender roles. Focus on the Enlightenment.
HSHM 451, HSHM 635, SCIENCE, ARMS, AND THE STATE. Daniel Kevles, T 7:00-8:50
A history of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons in the twentieth century that focuses on the integration in the United States of national security policy making, scientific research, and military innovations, including its consequences for the scientific community, the civilian economy, public attitudes towards weapons of mass destruction, and political movements to control them.
HSHM 702, PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, Paola Betucci, W 2:30-4:20
Study of secondary literature, recent and older, in the history of the physical and life sciences from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. Students acquire familiarity with the development of science in general and of its major ranches, including its content, instruments and methods, and social-institutional settings, and an acquaintance with various approaches that historians have followed in interpreting these events.
HSHM 742, LIFE SCIENCES IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE, Ivano Dal Prete, TH 1:30-3:20
This course explores the multifaceted world of medical and biological research between the Renaissance and the end of the eighteenth century. Emphasis is placed on the role of medical knowledge in the scientific revolution, the developmet of microscopy and instrument-making, and the social and cultural issues raised by debates on animal and human generation.
HSHM 919, RESEARCH IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY U.S. HEALTH, MEDICINE, AND THE BODY, Naomi Rogers, T 9:25-11:15
Research seminar in twentieth-century U.S. health, medicine, and the body, with primary focus on each student completing her/his own major research paper. Projects chosen from post-Civil War period, with emphasis on the twentieth century. Class sessions also explore research techniques, writing styles, and the interrogation of sources.
Fall 2009
HSHM 005, MEDICINE AND SOCIETY IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Rebecca Tannenbaum, TTh 11:35-12:50
Disease and healing in American history from colonial times to the present. The changing role of the physician, alternative healers and therapies, and the social impact of epidemics from smallpox to AIDS. Enrollment limited to freshmen. Pre-registration required; see under Freshman Seninar Program.
HSHM 008, HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE. Sherwin Nuland, TTh 1:00-2:15
The development of scientific medicine traced from classical antiquity to the dawning of the modern biomedical era. Focus on the biographies of major contributors and on cultural and intellectual currents affecting discovery. Enrollment limited to freshmen.
HSHM 231, HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS. Leon Rocha, TTh 10:30-11:20
This course will introduce students to the historical of psychiatry and psychopathology in Europe and in America, as well as the history of the international psychoanalytic movement. Particular attention will be paid to the theories of the mind and sexuality of Sigmund Freud, one of the most important and original thinkers in the twentieth century.
HSHM 240, THE MAKING OF MODERN SCIENCE, 1400-1800. (formerly Curiosity and Natural Inquiry in Early Modern Europe) Paola Bertucci, TTh 11:35-12:25
The origins of Western scientific culture and its connections with curiosity, ingenuity, and artisanal knowledge. Key topics in the historiography of early modern science, including the scientific revolution and the trial of Galileo.
HSHM 243, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. William Summers, MW 1:30-2:20
History and philosophy of science have a special affinity and one can effectively advance both simultaneously. The common goal of understanding of science can be pursued by dual, interdependent means. This course aims to organize important themes in philosophy of science to illuminate and explicate important historical examples from both the physical and biological sciences. The understanding provided by philosophical analysis applied to historically grounded and contingently developed science will be greater than that obtained without such an integrated perspective.
HSHM 328a or b, METHODS AND LITERATURE IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE.
328a: T 7:00-8:50 William Summers
328b: Th 1:30-3:20 Mariola Espinosa
Discussion of recent literature in the history of science, medicine, and public health. Introduction to historiographic issues and to methods used in historical research and writing.
HSHM 413, X-RAY VISIONS: MEDICAL IMAGING SINCE 1895. Bettyann Kevles, Th 1:30-3:20
The development of X-rays, CT, MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine. Their impact on diagnostic medicine, the legal system, and culture (high and low). Topics include the nature of invention--how new technologies appear; the economics of medicine in relation to technology; the role of warfare in invention; and the impact of these technologies on the arts.
HSHM 414, A HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREEK MEDICINE. Veronika Grimm, TTh 1:00-2:15
An introduction to Greek medicine from the fifth century B.C. to the second century A.D. with attention to central concepts, methods, and theories. Topics include relation to scientific theories to clinical practice, to magic, to temple medicine, and to Greek philosophy.
HSHM 426, HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY. Ivano Dal Prete, Th 3:30-5:20
An introduction to the history of astronomy from antiquity to modern times. The relationship between astronomy and astrology; visual representations in astronomy; astronomy, sociability, and gender.
HSHM 437, THE GLOBAL CRISIS OF MALARIA. Frank Snowden, M 1:30-3:20
An examination of the global crisis of malaria in comparative and historical context. Topics will include the development of the mosquito theory of transmission and scientific uinderstanding of the disease; the historical experience of malaria in India, Italy, the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, The Gambia, and South Africa; the World Health Organization strategies to eradicate the disease since 1955; and the development of such tools as insecticides such as DDT; medication; bed nets; and the attempt to develop a vaccine.
HSHM 277, HSHM 677, GENETICS, REPRODUCTION, AND SOCIETY. Daniel Kevles, MW 11:35-12:25
A history of modern biology, especially evolution, genetics, and molecular biology, within its social, economic, legal, and cultural context. Topics include eugenics and sterilization, the Scopes trial, contraception and abortion, new reproductive technologies, medical genetics, the Human Genome Project, and human cloning.
HSHM 461, HSHM 650 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MEDICINE. Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert, M 3:30-5:20
Development of medical thought, disease theory, and surgical technique in ancient Egypt from early pharaonic times until the Graeco-Roman periods. Close reading of texts in translation and secondary literature.
HSHM 676, ENGINEERING AND OWNERSHIP OF LIFE. Daniel Kevles, W 3:30-5:20
This seminar explores the history of innovation and intellectual property protection in living matter. Focusing on the United States in world context, it examines arrangements for such protection outside the patent system as well as within it. Topics include agriculture, medicine, biotechnology, and law. May be taken as a reading or research course.
HSHM 701, PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE. John Harley Warner, M 1:30-3:20
An examination of the variety of approaches to the social and cultural history of medicine and public health. Readings are drawn from recent literature in the field, sampling writings on health care, illness experiences, and medical cultures in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia from antiquity to the twentieth century. Topics include the role of gender, class, ethnicity, race, region, and religion in the experience of health care and sickness; the intersection of lay and professional understandings of the body; and the role of the marketplace in shaping professional identities and patient expectations.
HSHM 710, METHODS FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND MEDICINE. Paola Bertucci, W 9:25-11:15
Exploration of the methods and debates in the social studies of science, technology, and medicine. This course covers the history of the field and its current intellectual, social, and political positioning. It emphasizes the debates on constructivism and relativism, and provides critical tools to address the relationships among science, technology, medicine, and society.
HSHM 730, DISEASE AND MEDICINE IN THE CARIBBEAN, 1492-2000. Mariola Espinosa, Th 1:30-3:20
Readings on the interactions of medicine and disease with the social, economic, cultural, political, and military histories of the Caribbean region from 1492 to the present. Topics will include the Columbian exchange and demographic collapse; the connections between race, slavery, and disease; the role of disease in the loss and gain of empire; the influence of U.S. public health policies; and the Cuban health care system since the Revolution.
HSHM 741, SCIENCE AND RELIGION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. Ivano Dal Prete, W 1:30-3:20
This course provides a historical perspective on the relationship between science and religion. It analyzes their complex intertwining from antiquity to modern Europe and America, with particular emphasis on Latin and Islamic middle ages, Renaissance astrology and cosmology, chronology and the geological sciences, embryology and evolutionism.
Spring 2007
HSHM 680b, History of Chinese Science. William Summers. Th 1.30-3.20
A study of the major themes in Chinese scientific thinking from antiquity to the twentieth century. Emphasis on non-Western concepts of nature and the development of science in China, East-West scientific exchanges, and China's role in modern science.
HSHM 702b, Introduction to the History of Science. Ole Molvig. T 1.30-3.20
Study of secondary literature, recent and older, in the history of the physical life sciences from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. Students acquire familiarity both with the development of science in general and of its major branches, including its content, instruments and methods, and social-institutional settings, and an acquaintance with various approaches that historians have followed in interpreting these events.
HSHM 918b, Research Seminar in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences. John Harley Warner and Bruno Strasser. M 1.30-3.20
An exploration of research methods and the craft of writing the history of medicine and the life sciences. Participants are expected to produce full-length research papers, and these individual research programs are the central focus of the group's discussions.
Fall 2006
HSHM 622a, Science, Technology, and Modernity. Ole Molvig . W 3.30-5.20
The seminar explores the intersections of science, technology, and culture from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th. Participants are encouraged to integrate a detailed understanding of technical and scientific developments with an informed reading of a variety of social, intellectual, and artistic responses to the challenges posed by modern science and technology. Graduate students complete additional readings and research in consultation with instructor.
HSHM 635a, Science, Arms, and the State . Daniel Kevles. M 1.30-3.20
This seminar examines the varied ways bodies and machines have been imagined and represented in the modern period in Europe and the United States, with examples from biology, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and computer science. Using primary materials from a variety of scientific and cultural sources, including literature and film, topics include the organism in nineteenth-century biology and romanticism; standardized and mechanized bodies; prosthetics, body enhancements, and movement technologies; machine models of the mind and their critics; the cyborg as technological and cultural icon; and virtual bodies in cyberspace.
HSHM 637a, Race and Medicine in America, 1800-2000. Susan Lederer. Th 1.30-3.20
An examination of race and medicine in America, primarily but not exclusively focused on African Americans' encounters with the health care system. Topics include slavery and health; doctors, immigrants, and epicemics; the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the use of minorities as research subjects; and race and genetic disease.
HSHM 640a, Molecules, Life, Disease: 20th Century. Bruno Strasser. MW 11.30-12:20
This course explores the transformation of the life sciences in the 20th century. It focuses on the rise of the "molecular vision of life" and disease, emphasizing its relationship to broader intellectual, social, cultural and political changes. It discusses the rich and varied historiography of molecular biology and reflects on its role in the making professional identities, collective memories and disciplinary boundaries. A two-hour graduate discussion section will develop themes addressed during the course.
HSHM 676a, The Engineering and Ownership of Life. Daniel Kevles. T 1.30-3.20
The development of biological knowledge and control in relation to intellectual property rights in living organisms. Topics include agribusiness, medicine, biotechnology, and patent law.
HSHM 701a, Introduction to the History of Medicine and Public Health. John Harley Warner. M 1.30-3.20
An examination of the variety of approaches to the social and cultural history of medicine and public health. Readings are drawn from recent literature in the field, sampling writings on health care, illness experiences, and medical cultures in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia from antiquity to the twentieth century. Topics include the role of gender, class, ethnicity, race, region, and religion in the experience of health care and sickness; the intersection of lay and professional understandings of the body; and the role of the marketplace in shaping professional identities and patient expectations.
HSHM 732a, Infection, Public Health, and the State. Frank Snowden. Th 3.30-5.20
This course is a comparative examination of public health strategies adopted by Western nations since 1800 with regard to high-impact infectious diseases--cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, malaria, polio, and HIV/AIDS. The course begins with "plague regulations" and then explores such alternative policies as vaccination, the sanatorium, the sanitation idea, the regulation of prostitution, health education, and the reporting and tracing of cases. Attention is also given to state planning to confront the threat of bioterrorism and to the present emergency in sub-Saharan Africa of malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS. The class considers the strategies of the World Health Organization and of national governments to confront the crisis. This is a reading the discussion class, but it can be taken as a research seminar with the permission of the instructor. There are no prerequisites, and no prior knowledge is assumed.
HSHM 914a or b, Research Tutorial I. By arrangement with faculty.
HSHM 915a or b, Research Tutorial II. By arrangement with faculty.
HSHM 920a or b, Independent Reading. By arrangement with faculty.
HSHM 930a or b, Independent Research. By arrangement with faculty.
