Undergraduate Catalog | 2020-2021 Previous Edition
Health/Medical Humanities, Minor
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Health/Medical Humanities is an interdisciplinary field that uses humanistic perspectives to understand health and healthcare. The humanities have the potential to teach us about the embodied human experience, including suffering, healing, well-being, and flourishing. The Minor in Health/Medical Humanities complements the movement toward primary and patient-centered care in healthcare and provides an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the effects of health, wellness, and illness on patients, on health professionals, and on the social worlds in which they live and work. The program explores the experience of illness, mortality, fragility, health, and healthcare settings through literature, the arts, and the social sciences. The minor supports the University’s health and medical-related programs by offering a cross-disciplinary approach that promises to enhance observation, empathy, communication, cultural understanding, human compassion and sensitivity, and creativity, among future healthcare providers. In short, the minor immerses students in the human side of medicine and health, and leads to greater enhanced interpersonal relationships between patients and practitioners. The minor supports the concept of “person-centered medicine,” and thus leads to an enhanced appreciation of the personhood and inherent humanness of patients and clients. The minor is also intended to enhance personal reflection, critical thinking skills, and the ability to understand the personal, social, historical, and cultural contexts of health, illness, and medical care. The minor is supported by faculty and courses across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, including from departments of and majors in Africana Studies, Anthropology, Chemistry, Communication Studies, Criminal Justice, History, Language and Cultural Studies, and Philosophy.
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Admission Requirements
Admission is limited and only Fall admission is accepted. Students from any major may apply. Applicants should submit to the program director their GPA, transcript, statement of purpose explaining how this minor brings together their areas of interest, and one faculty recommendation. Deadline to apply for Fall admission is the Monday after Spring Break.
Minor Requirements
The Minor in Health/Medical Humanities requires 19 credit hours. Students take two required courses. Between these two courses, students take 5 approved elective courses from a range of departments from the social sciences, humanities, arts, and natural sciences. Throughout, students investigate questions of health, healing, and disease from multiple disciplinary perspectives and integrate their insights in an interdisciplinary portfolio as a capstone project. Because this is designated to be an interdisciplinary minor, no more than three courses in the student’s major may count toward the minor.
Introductory Course (3 credit hours)
Elective Courses (15 credit hours)
Health/Medical Humanities Courses
The following courses may be repeated for credit as topics differ:
Other Courses
Other courses may be substituted for the above Health/Medical Humanities elective courses in consultation with the advisor or program director. Examples of courses that would satisfy the requirements of the minor include (but are not limited to):
- AFRS 2170 - Introduction to Health and Environmental Issues in the Africana World (3)
- AFRS 4652 - Race, Health, and the African Diaspora (3) (W)
- ANTH 2122 - Beliefs, Symbols, and Rituals (3)
- ANTH 2126 - World Population Problems (3) (W)
- ANTH 2127 - Environmental Anthropology (3)
- ANTH 2141 - Our Place in Nature: Introduction to Biological Anthropology (4)
- ANTH 2142 - Primate Behavioral Ecology (3)
- ANTH 2143 - The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution (3)
- ANTH 2144 - Neanderthals and Us (3)
- ANTH 3090 - Topics in Anthropology (1 to 3) (Topics: Anthropology of Childhood, Anthropology of Violence, Cemetery Studies, Human Osteology)
- ANTH 3122 - Culture, Health, and Disease (3) (W)
- ANTH 3125 - Food and Globalization (3)
- ANTH 3143 - Race and Anthropology (3)
- ANTH 3144 - Evolutionary Anthropology (3)
- ANTH 3145 - Anthropological Genetics (3)
- ANTH 3222 - Culture, Health, and Disease (3)
- ANTH 4090 - Topics in Anthropology (1 to 3)
- ANTH 4131 - Culture, Pregnancy, and Birth (3)
- ANTH 4140 - Field Biology of the Primates (3)
- ANTH 4141 - Forensic Anthropology (3)
- CHEM 1111 - Chemistry in Today’s Society (3)
- COMM 3051 - Topics in Health Communication (3) (Topics: Healthcare Narratives; End of Life Communication; Gender and Health; Media and Health; Health, Communication, and Marginal Communities; The Social Construction of Health and Illness)
- HIST 2140 - Disease and Medicine in History (3)
- HIST 3155 - Health and Healing in Africa (3)
- PHIL 1001 - Philosophy of Death and Dying (3)
- PHIL 3210 - Ethical Theory (3)
- PHIL 3230 - Healthcare Ethics (3)
- PHIL 3520 - Philosophy of Science (3)
- PHIL 3920 - Philosophy of Technology (3)
- PHIL 3930 - Philosophy of Body (3)
- SPAN 3222 - Spanish for Medical and Healthcare (3)
- SPAN 4050 - Selected Topics in Spanish (1 to 3) (Topic: Medical Interpreting)
Capstone Course (1 credit hour)
Grade Requirements
Students must attain an overall GPA of 2.0 in all coursework within the minor. No courses counted toward the minor may be taken Pass/No Credit.
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