HPS444H1

Health, Medicine, and Society in the Mediterranean World

This course examines healing practices and medical knowledge in the Mediterranean world, focusing on the early modern period. We will address topics such as the interplay between medicine and religion, the relationship between patients and practitioners, and the role of women as both healers and patients and across Mediterranean shores. We will also consider how individuals in different Mediterranean regions experienced the relationship between health and the environment, explore the bearings that medical pursuits had on the creation and consolidation of notions of sex and gender, and examine how medical knowledge shaped views of the body and informed health policies.