This course is a sophomore seminar in history; topics vary per semester. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
How did traditional medical practitioners perceive epidemics and disease transmission? What transpired when East Asian medicinal practices met biomedicine? What does the history of medicine look like when East Asian experiences are emphasized? This course examines these and other questions in the history of health and disease in East Asia from the seventeenth century through the present. Topics covered include public health as both a political concept and a practical concept; colonial and semi-colonial medicine; pluralistic medical systems; and disease stigmatization and pandemics. Beyond exploring these issues, we will also investigate different methodologies and materials that historians use to understand the human experience of disease, health, and medicine.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU BA; BU IS; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM
