Module HIST2891: HEALTH CARE & MEDICINE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

Department: History

HIST2891: HEALTH CARE & MEDICINE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

Type	Open	Level	2	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2007/08	Module Cap	50	Location	Durham

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This course looks at the understanding and experience of health care and medicine in early modern Europe.
• Students will gain an insight into the contemporary understanding of, and responses and reactions to, disease and healing in this period.

Content

• The course will look at the structure of the medical community, the development of the tripartite medical ‘profession’ (physicians, surgeons and apothecaries), and will analyse the position of the large itinerant and ‘irregular’ world of charlatans, quacks and sooth-sayers outside this ‘core’. Other themes will include the relationship between medical practitioners and their patients, the role of women as midwives and health carers, domestic medicine, hospitals, responses to epidemic disease such as plague and syphilis and developments in anatomy and surgery. Throughout, health care and medicine will be contextualised within social, cultural and historical frameworks and students will be encouraged to analyse themes of change and continuity within a pan-European perspective.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding of key themes in the history of medicine in early modern Europe
• An appreciation of current historiographical debates regarding the history of medicine
• The contextualisation of health care and medicine within wider social and cultural frameworks

• Subject specific skills for this module can be viewed at:
• http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/;

• Key skills for this module can be viewed at:
• http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods:
• lectures to set the foundations for further study and to provide the basis for the acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Lectures provide a broad framework which defines individual module content, introducing students to themes, debates and interpretations. In this environment, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in listening, selective note-taking and reflection;
• seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students’ ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Assessment:
• Summative essays remain a central component of assessment in history, due to the integrative high-order skills they develop. Essays allow students the opportunity to recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas, concepts and problems; students can demonstrate awareness of, and the ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of resources and identify, represent and debate a range of subject-specific issues and opinions. Through the essay, students can synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals and develop reasoned argument based on individual research; they should be able to communicate ideas in writing, with clarity and coherence; and to show the ability to integrate and critically assess material from a wide range of sources.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Lectures	19	Weekly in Terms 1 & 2	1 hour	19
Seminars	6	6 - 3 in Term one, 2 in Term two, 1 normally in Term three (revision)	1 hour	6
Preparation and Reading				175
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Essays 40% (essay 1 - maximum of 2000 words, not including footnotes and bibliography 50%, essay 2 - maximum of 2000 words, not including footnotes and bibliography 50%), Examination 60% (two-hour unseen examination 100%).

Formative Assessment:

One or more short assignments submitted in writing or delivered orally and discussed either 1:1 or in a group context.

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■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University