Medical Humanities: Bodies & Minds, Histories of the Normal and the Pathological

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Medical humanities acknowledge that instead of being fixed entities, health and illness are constantly changing, ambiguous phenomena. What is called healthy (sane) or ill (insane) depends indeed on a large variety of issues and dynamics: cultural, socio-economical, and religious aspects; moral system; legal system; science; technology; art and media etc. This course approaches the question of health and illness through a philosophical, anthropological and sociological exploration of "bodies" and "minds". Through a historical and cross-cultural perspective it will discuss various concepts of body and mind. We will discuss how and why some bodies and minds are considered as normal and others as abnormal or pathological. For this we will draw on scientific, social, cultural and economic contexts, but also on how bodies and minds are represented in art and (popular) culture. Cases include cosmetic surgery; the modern hospital; boxing in the ghetto; organ transplantation; depression; menopause; prostheses in Paralympic athletes; medical imaging technologies; the war on cancer.