Body, Mind and Medicine: A Dissection

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

UNIB10003 is recommended but not required.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This interdisciplinary subject will explore three different ways of knowing the body and mind in sickness and in health, and how those ways of knowing translate into ways of doing. Starting from the perspective of the present day, the biomedical, bio-psychosocial and plural models will be explored through a dialogue between the past and the present, the historian, the scientist and the practitioner. It will provide a broad survey of the history of medicine from Ancient Greece to the post-industrial present, as well as a grounded knowledge of contemporary medical culture and organisation. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the spaces and places of medical practice: the institutions and organisation where sick bodies and unsound minds have been treated. From the home to the hospital, from the asylum to the courtroom, from the operating theatre to the birthing room, this subject will explore historical and contemporary medicine from the perspective of the professionals and the patients who have inhabited these places. It will also immerse students in the materiality of medicine through the use of the university's collections in the Harry Brookes Allen Anatomy and Pathology Museum and the Medical History Museum, as well the world-class collections of historical patient records that are publicly accessible in Melbourne.

Students who complete this subject will:

• understand and identify different ways of knowing the body and mind in sickness and health across the disciplines of Medicine, Surgery and Psychiatry, Historical Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, and the Social Sciences;
• identify, synthesise and analyse arguments about bodies and minds in sickness and in health;
• create effective arguments, backed up by convincing evidence, about the historical and contemporary relationship between bodies and minds in sickness and in health;
• develop research skills, demonstrating the ability to search for relevant materials in the library's and other digital databases;
• develop effective communication, presentation (written and oral) and organisational skills;
• develop the ability to collaborate constructively inside and outside the classroom;
• demonstrate ethical integrity in written work and classroom activities, including a deep ethical engagement with issues around bodies and minds in sickness and in health.

• A 1200 word short critical analysis of the 'sick man thesis', due at the end of week 5 (30%)
• A group collaboration on medical scandals, 800 word equivalent, due at the end of week 12 (20%)
• A 2000 word review essay of a relevant film, book, article or equivalent, due in the examination period (50%).

Hurdle requirement:

• Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject.
• All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. After five days late assessment will not be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

Subject readings will be available online.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

This subject together with UNIB10003 (Ecological History of Humanity) and UNIB30005 (Living Longer, a global diagnosis) form a recommended medical humanities stream for Medical students.