Kill or Cure: the History of Medicine and Health

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Kill or Cure the History of Medicine and Health

• HI 176
• Wednesdays 11-12
• Room MS.05 (Maths and Stats Bldg
• Convenor Roberta Bivins

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The history of medicine and global history

• Why a medical perspective on the global past?
• Health and the body are enduring and immediate
  concerns across historical periods and peoples
• A focus on medicine and health allows approaches
  to both natural and built environments
• Focusing on ideas about and experiences of health
  and illness offers a unique perspective on social
  and cultural trends and beliefs shows how they
  filtered into and influenced PRACTICE and daily
  life
• Exploring the institutions, practitioners and
  consumers of medicines exposes the interplay
  between cultural, political, economic and social
  spheres.

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What kind of history is this?

• Social
• Political
• Economic
• Cultural

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Approaches to the history of medicine

• Through case studies
• Through individual accounts
• Through political debates and discourse
• Through the professional literature
• Through technologies, images and artefacts
• Through the media

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Global Medical Systems
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Biomedicine
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Diseases
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Empire, Health Medicine
Reproduction and Gender
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Institutions and Professions
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Medicine and the Body Politic
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Medicine and Technology