Madness in Medicine and Society - 20085

This is a two-course connection that links courses from two different areas: the humanities and the social sciences. This connection seeks to explore how socio-cultural and biological factors influence notions and practices of mental health and well being from Renaissance to 21st century. Students in the connection will look at the breadth of our understanding of the bounds of madness as they are differently narrated in medicine, literary criticism, biology, film studies, anthropology and psychology.

This connection draws on the strength of liberal arts linking quantitative social science with humanistic inquiry and representation. It encourages students to infuse their learning moving them to contextualize scientific, literary, cultural and western notions of madness by exploring the relationships that madness and society can have in different historical and cultural contexts.