Course Synopsis:

This course will focus on the complex roles that disease has played in human history from the Middle Ages to COVID-19. We will concentrate on how understandings of health and disease have changed over time: not only how they are shaped by social, cultural, and political contexts, but also how these spheres are in turn shaped by disease. Through close analysis of both primary and secondary readings, we will pay attention to the interplay between social and cultural responses to disease and the professional and institutional contexts of medicine and medical knowledge. Case studies of epidemic diseases will help us observe how they have divided human populations and cultures, but also how they have tied human populations together. Topics will include social diseases, disease and colonialism, disease and commerce, public health, the rise of scientific medicine, disease and war, global health, poverty, modern pandemics, and disease and women.

Prerequisites: 

None.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Through lectures, readings, and discussions, to understand the complex relations between epidemic disease, medical practitioners, and society throughout history.
2. Through independent research and writing, to develop skills in critical and creative thinking and written communication of ideas about disease and history.
3. Through class discussions and presentations, to gain skills in oral communication and presentation of scholarly work.
4. To appreciate the temporal dimensions of epidemic diseases according to place and context.
5. To understand the central tools and techniques in the discipline of history broadly.

Prerequisites:

None.

Method of Delivery:

Two 80-minute lectures per week, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30pm to 3:50pm, a mix of lectures and student-led presentations,

Method of Evaluation and Weights:

Class Participation - 15%
Critical Evaluation Assignment (in pairs) - 25%
Primary Source Book Response [Maxwell or Kramer] - 25%
Final Exam - 35%

Texts Required:

• Mitchell L. Hammond, Epidemics and the Modern World (Toronto, 2020).
• William Maxwell, They Came Like Swallows (Vintage, 1997).
• Larry Kramer, The Normal Heart (Samuel French, 2011).
• A set of online readings through Ares, the University of Guelph’s online Course Reserve system.

*Please note: This is a preliminary website description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.