History 410/510:  American Medical History  -  Tuesdays 1500 – 1750 -  175 LIL

            Professor:                     James C. Mohr
            Office:                          383 McKenzie Hall
            Hours:                          T, R 14:00 to 14:30, and by appointment
            Phone:                          346-5903
            E-mail:                          jmohr@uoregon.edu

                                                                                               
Required texts (available in paperback at the Bookstore):

            Leavitt and Numbers, eds., Sickness and Health in America (LN in the syllabus below)
            Warner and Tighe, eds., Major Problems in the History of American Medicine and Public Health (WT in the syllabus below)

            This course will explore nine major subjects in the history of medicine and health in the United States, one each week.  You will be expected to do the reading in advance and come to class prepared to discuss it.

            Since three hours is a long class session, I propose to divide each meeting into three segments.  Each week, I will begin the class by offering some background material on that week’s subject.  In some cases this may constitute a formal lecture; in others it will consist of suggestions, questions, and general frameworks.

            The second – and most important – segment of each class session will be our discussion of the readings on that subject.  We will begin this section each week with a short written quiz (usually about 10 minutes) on the reading.  Those quizzes will be straightforward.  If you have done the reading, you should do well on the quizzes.  The subsequent discussion will help us understand the reading in deeper analytical contexts.  The outside reading should probably take most students about 10-12 hours a week.

            The third segment will vary from week to week.  Some weeks we will view a video on a related issue.  During the second half of the quarter we will listen to student presentations during the third hour of class (each team will be assigned to a specific time).

            Student presentations: You will be divided into groups of two, and each team will prepare a 15-minute report for presentation to the rest of the class.  You may use any media or presentation styles you wish, including traditional paper reading, power-point, overheads, play-acting, or whatever else you might consider appropriate to the subject you are presenting and engaging for the class.  Each team will also turn in written (or digital) materials to the professor, which detail the main points of the presentation and the main sources consulted.  Those annotated bibliographies will be 3-5 pages long, and we will talk in class about how to do them.  Those submissions will be due for all teams at the beginning of class in week seven, and all teams will come to class that day ready to present their project.  You will draw for assigned presentation times beginning that week and continuing through the end of the quarter.

            For graduate students enrolled in this course as History 510:  You will fulfill all of the undergraduate requirements, and in addition you will turn in two other papers.  One will be a historiographical assessment of the major books on whatever subject you selected for your in-class presentation (3-5 pages); the other will address a medical history subject related to your larger interests (5-10 pages).

            Grading:

            For undergraduates:  Weekly quizzes on the reading 20%; class participation 10%; class presentation 30%; final exam 40%.

            For graduate students:  Class participation 10%; class presentation 20%; historiographical paper 10%; separate subject paper 30%; final exam 30%.
                       

Outline of Class Sessions:

Week I.  Sept. 25:        Introduction to the subject, ground rules for the course, and discussion of the student presentations.

Week II.  Oct. 02:        Medicine and Health in Early America
LN, 45-83; WT, 26-64, 80-89

Week III.  Oct. 09:       Health, Disease, and Medicine in the Nineteenth Century
LN, 145-186, 309-333; WT, 70-73, 91-103, 106-123, 127-131, 133-136

Week IV.  Oct 16:       Evolution of the Medical Profession
LN, 85-112, 187-210; WT, 143-149, 277-283, 286-315

Week V.  Oct 23:         Scientific Medicine and Its Ambiguities
LN, 113-142, 225-236, 555-572; WT, 196-233, 388-457

Week VI.  Oct 30:       Impact of Epidemic Disease in US History
LN, 405-433, 543-572.

Week VII. Nov. 6:       Impact of Race on American Medicine and Vice Versa
LN, 349-404; WT, 103-106, 120-123, 234-253, 264-273, 283-286, 366-368.  Note: presentation materials due at the beginning of class today, and each team must come prepared to present their project.

Week VIII. Nov. 13:    Impact of Gender on American Medicine and Vice Versa
LN, 213-224, 237-265; WT, 67-70, 131-133, 136-143, 149-157, 332-347

Week IX. Nov. 20:      Evolution of Public Health
LN, 32-44, 435-542; WT, 159-195, 234-245, 248-250, 253-264

Week X. Nov. 27:        Historical Roots of the Current American Medical Crisis
LN, 11-31, 267-294, 334-348; WT, 368-386, 459-538

Final Exam:                   Wednesday, December 5 at 1300 (Please note that day and time, and please make travel plans accordingly)