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HISTORY OF MEDICINE II: 17th -20th CENTURY
HPS319H1 F
COURSE OVERVIEW
General description: This course considers medicine and healing in their social, political, and
cultural contexts from the 17th to the 20th centuries. It focuses on historical developments in western
medicine and examines how medical knowledge was produced and shared, how views of the human
body were developed and communicated, and how healing and medicine were practiced and pursued.
We shall consider topics such as changing views of the body, the role of different medical
practitioners in the healing world, the relationship between patients and healers, the communication
and transmission of medical knowledge, the consequences and legacies of slavery and colonialism,
the making of medical identity and authority, and the developments of medical institutions such as
hospitals, asylums and laboratories. We will pay special attention to how social, political and cultural
factors have historically informed the worlds of health and medicine in ways that both reflected and
articulated different social and power relations.
LEARNING GOALS
Students will learn to:
1. think historically about the healing world and the relationship between medicine and society;
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2. situate healing and medicine within their historical contexts;
3. understand the role of social, political, gender, and religious factors in shaping the worlds of
healing and medicine;
4. identify, interpret and contextualize primary sources relevant to the history of medicine;
5. critically examine historical evidence, argumentation and methodology in scholarly work;
6. read and critique historical arguments concerning the history of medicine;
7. research historical topics and sharpen their ability to develop historical arguments.
Significant Course Activities
1. Read weekly the assigned primary and secondary sources (required readings) before the
relevant lecture and the tutorial.
2. Attend online lectures.
3. Participate in synchronous online tutorials.
4. Complete your course assignments by the due date.
III. COURSE POLICIES
Course Platforms: Where to Find Course Materials
This course will primarily make use of two platforms: (1) Quercus and (2) Zoom.
(1) Quercus is U of T’s central the learning management system. Quercus will be the main online hub
for the course—this will be where you where you can access course lectures and readings, submit
your assignments, and receive your grades. Students should regularly check Quercus for
announcements, course materials, instructions for assignments, and other course information. They
should make sure that they enable notifications on Quercus to receive all the announcements.
(2) Zoom is one U of T’s central video-conferencing platforms. Synchronous (live) sessions will take
place on zoom, as a first option. Still, the instructor and the TA reserve the right to move
synchronous (live) sessions to another video conferencing platform (e.g. MS Teams) in the case that
Zoom is not functioning or is otherwise deemed unable to fulfil their pedagogical needs. If we incur
in technical problems (which is not unusual in online teaching), please bear with us – we will do our
best to address them one way or the other.
Email Policy
The TA and the course instructor are happy to answer simple questions by email. If your question
requires a more complex reply, we may encourage you to set up an appointment with either of us.
Many aspects of the course are addressed and explained in this syllabus, so before emailing
the TA or the instructor, please read the syllabus carefully to check whether you can already
find the answer to your question there. Please ensure you use your official University of
Toronto email address ([email protected] or [email protected]) and include
the course code in the subject line (HPS 319). E-mail response time will vary, but we will try to get
back to you as soon as we can, and usually within 48 hours. However, it will likely take longer to
receive a reply to messages sent over the weekend. Please do not expect any e-mail correspondence
to occur outside of regular working hours (i.e. Monday-Friday 9 am-5 pm ET).
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Appointments
Students are encouraged to make an appointment with the TA or the course instructor for an online
meeting when they need to discuss questions that are not easily handled via email. In order to make
sure that this process is equitable for everyone, we ask students to confirm within 24 hours their
availability to attend an appointment and provide 24-hour notice of a cancellation. Please make sure
you are on time for your appointment. If something unexpected prevents you from joining the
meeting or being on time, please notify the TA or the instructor as soon as possible.
Lectures
Lectures will be held online synchronously on Tuesdays, at 12:10-2 pm, and will be recorded and
posted online. Any course lecture content (such as slides) will be posted after each week’s
synchronous lecture.
Tutorials
Tutorials will be held online synchronously. Tutorial attendance is mandatory. There will be six
tutorials. They begin on Week 3 and will take place on Weeks 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 (please see specific
dates below). Tutorials are designed to provide a forum where students can discuss the readings,
clarify the lecture content, and prepare for assignments. They give students the opportunity to
explore the readings in depth, clear up questions related to the lectures, and may include oral
presentations. Students are expected to complete the required readings for the relevant week before
the lecture and the tutorial.
Tutorial Marking Scheme
Students will be graded for their attendance and their active participation in the tutorials. A missed
tutorial will result in a 2-point deduction from the overall tutorial mark. Please see the Tutorials’
Participation Marking Scheme on Quercus.
Tutorials’ Schedule:
TUT0101 Tuesday 4-5 PM
TUT0201 Thursday 2-3 PM
TUT0301 Thursday 3-4 PM
IV. ASSIGNMENTS
Assignments and tests for this course include a Midterm Test, an Essay Proposal, a Research
Essay, and an End-of-Term Test.
MARK BREAKDOWN
Midterm Test 17%
Essay Proposal 9%
Research Essay 40%
End-of-term Test 22%
Tutorials 12% Please see Tutorials’ dates and policies
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Students’ written assignments will be evaluated on the basis of the degree of originality and depth of
their analysis, their capacity to examine and integrate insights from different sources, and the quality
of their writing as it is reflected in the clarity and cogency of their presentations and arguments. If a
student believes they have been improperly graded, they must first contact their TA and provide a
brief written explanation in support of their request of regrading. If the student is not satisfied with
the TA’s explanation, they may contact the instructor with a further explanation for why regrading is
being requested and a summary of the TA’s explanation. Please note that if the request of re-marking
is accepted, the re-marking may lower or raise the grade.
Assignment Descriptions and Requirements
Essay Proposal: due on Friday, November 4 (please upload your proposal on Quercus by 11:59
pm); required length ca. 300 words (excluding notes and bibliography). The Essay Proposal is an
abstract of your Research Essay. It presents the topic you want to write your Essay on and its main
research questions. It consists of a short narrative that discusses the topic and main ideas of your
essay. It also includes two or three main research questions you would like to address in your essay,
and a bibliography consisting of at least one primary source and four secondary sources written by
historians.
Research Essay: due on Friday, November 25 (please upload your essay on Quercus by 11:59
pm); required length ca. 2000 words (excluding notes and bibliography). The Research Essay gives
you the opportunity to conduct original and in-depth research on a specific topic related the subject
matter of the course. Drawing on the primary and secondary sources you have chosen (a minimum
of one primary source and five secondary sources written by historians), construct a convincing
argument and support it with compelling evidence. Please keep in mind that the required number of
sources is a minimum, and you should not feel you need to confine yourself to this number. Using
more sources is likely to be beneficial to your essay. The writing of an essay requires you start early
and create a plan that is flexible enough to accommodate any unforeseen problems. Make sure you
manage your time in such a way that you can conduct the research and have time to write and edit
drafts.
Essay Proposal and the Research Essay: Both the Essay Proposal and the Research Essay require
carrying out original research and investigate a topic beyond class and tutorial discussions and
materials. The instructor will upload on Quercus a list of general Essay themes. You will choose one
of the themes and narrow it down to a specific topic – ideally to a case study – by examining
particular events or historical processes that are closely related to the periods covered by the course
(17th to 20th C). In choosing the topic of your essay, you should focus on shorter rather than longer
historical periods.
More information about the Midterm Test and the End-of-term Test will be made available during
the semester. However here is some preliminary information:
- The Midterm Test (Tuesday, 18 October) will take the form of an online test that will be carried
out over a window of ca. 24 hours and will likely include two sections:
Section I will probably ask students to draw on the course materials (lectures, readings, slides, and
both primary and secondary sources) to write a short essay of ca. 500-600 words based on the
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interpretation and critical discussion of one of the primary sources included in the required readings
for the previous weeks, which will be chosen by the instructor. You will be asked to use this primary
source to articulate an argument based on the course materials -- as opposed to just a summary of the
source.
Section II will probably ask students to write a short essay of ca. 500-600 words based on the
interpretation and critical discussion of a primary source of their choice that is relevant to the history
of medicine in the period covered by the course (17th to 20th C). The primary source chosen by
students should not be included in any part of the course materials. However, students could use
secondary sources included in the course’s reading list to interpret and contextualize it. This section
will require carrying out some autonomous research and there will be the chance to discuss how to
approach it in tutorials and in the lectures.
The End-of-term Test (Tuesday, December 6) will be administered online. The structure of the
End-of-Term Test is still tentative but will likely take the form of an online test that will be carried
out over a window of ca. 24 hours and may include two sections:
Section I may require students to draw on the course materials (lectures, readings, and slides, both
primary and secondary sources) to write a short essay of ca. 550-600 words based on the
interpretation and critical discussion of one of the primary sources included in the required readings
for weeks 7-11, which will be chosen by the instructor. You will be asked to use this primary source
to articulate an argument based on the course materials -- as opposed to just a summary of the
source.
Section II may require students to write an essay of ca. 750-800 words (based on cases and examples
found in the course materials) in response to an essay question provided by the instructor.
All written assignments must be double-spaced, written in 12-point font. You should give references
according to the sample ‘Citation Style’ posted on Quercus.
Research Support
This course requires students to familiarize themselves with scholarship in the history of medicine
and engage in original research for their assignments. The staff at the UofT libraries have the
expertise to assist you in finding primary sources and the appropriate secondary literature for your
essay. In particular, this class is fortunate to have two liaison librarians for instruction and research
consultations:
Roma Kail, Head, Reader Services at E.J. Pratt Library, who will also carry out the Library Research
Session on Week 4
Email: [email protected]
Alexandra Carter, Science & Medicine Librarian at Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Email: [email protected]
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Submitting course work and late penalty policy:
All the assignments will be uploaded electronically on Quercus.
Students are expected to complete all assignments within the time frame indicated in the syllabus and
submit their assignments on the due date. If you are unable to submit your assignment on the due
date, please contact your TA and the course instructor as soon as possible.
The penalty for late assignments is 1% per day for the first 2 days, and an additional 2% per
day for any subsequent days, including weekends. Please note that assignments that are late
by more than one week will not be accepted. There are no exceptions to these policies other than
in the case of extenuating circumstances and situations in which students miss the deadline for
reasons entirely beyond their control (e.g., health-related reasons), provide the relevant
documentation, and contact the instructor and the TA before the deadline.
Any request for an extension must be accompanied by the necessary official documentation.
Students must provide a brief text explaining the reasons for requesting an extension and indicating
the timeline to completion for their extension request. The following types of documentation are
accepted by the UofT Faculty of Arts and Sciences:
In case of illness, requests of extension due to illness must be accompanied by either U of T
Verification of Illness or Injury Form (www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca) or a Student Health
or Disability Related Certificate. Please note that extensions may be granted only for the number
of days of sickness occurring before the assignment is due as indicated on the relevant
documentation.
In cases where there are other extenuating circumstances (i.e. other than health-related reasons)
that prevent students from submitting work on time, students requiring an extension must provide
either a note from their College Registrar, Academic Advisor or, if applicable, Accessibility Services,
supporting their request of accommodation.
Please note that even when documentation is provided, extensions are not granted automatically
and need to be approved by the instructor. For extension requests, please contact the instructor
and the TA in advance of any deadlines. If you know in advance that you will be unable to meet an
assignment deadline because of an emergency, please contact the TA and the course instructor as
soon as possible.