Subject Area: Sociology and Anthropology

This course explores the social and cultural meaning of illness and healing. Illness involves changed relationships, with the body, the self, the psyche, the environment and other people, and any illness is likely to work simultaneously in several of these dimensions. The course looks at what it means to be sick and means to be well. We consider: the distinction between curing and healing; the nature of care; the experiences of suffering and pain; the relationship between the bio-medical body and the social body. The course ranges from the physical to the psychic, to the interpersonal, to the political, to the ecological. There will be opportunities for you to pursue your own research interests and particular topics such as emotions, memory, the suffering of particular diseases, specific healing practices, and current political issues.