HISTORY 491/591 Medicine and Society in Japanese History
Course Description
No prior knowledge of Japanese history or culture is assumed or
required. Students are encouraged to pursue their interests in topics
that may not be covered in lectures.
In the 20th century (thus, the modern age) tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS
have had a significant impact on Japanese society, in part because
they were initially (and HIV/AIDS still is) incurable, fatal, and
contagious diseases. They are prime examples of diseases that highlight
a society's response to affliction: the medical issue of how to
determine the cause of the illness and then how to treat it; the
public health issue of how to allocate funds for treatment and care,
and preventive measures that can be taken (or, more specifically,
mandated) to prevent actual or feared infection and transmission
of the illness; the "public response" issue surrounding
ethical and moral judgements, regarding both the illness and the
afflicted. Indeed, these points were highlighted very clearly just
this past May, when people who had been institutionalized because
they suffered from Hansen's disease(leprosy) won a judgment against
the Japanese government (and, implicitly, against a Japanese society,
and against modern notions of institutionalization in general) for
that treatment.
In this class we shall try and get a longer-term perspective,
and an appreciation of historical contexts, respecting issues relating
to medicine and society in Japan, beginning from around the year
1000 (late classical period), and moving through the medieval and
the early modern eras, and into the present. It is hoped that the
course will provide students with a sense of the Japanese experience(s),
and provide an opportunity to develop an interpretative framework
for issues of medicine and society more generally.
We will examine such areas as medical knowledge; availability
and dissemination of treatment; the illnesses and afflictions in
the Japanese disease ecology; theoretical considerations deriving
from Chinese medicine; the impact of Dutch medical knowledge; reproductive
health and hygiene; acupuncture; literary and pictorial sources
for our knowledge; modern cosmopolitan medicine.
In the past students have been interested in a very wide variety
of issues and topics, well beyond what it has been possible to cover
in class. It is hoped that the term paper will provide students
with the an opportunity for exploration of those areas. As examples,
students have looked at such areas as: the impact of diet upon rates
of breast cancer in America and Japan; alternative and holistic
medicines; acupuncture and massage; atomic bombing and radiation
sickness; traditional Sino-Japanese theories of health; the impact
and influence of "Dutch medicine;" cultural constructions
of and attitudes towards illness (e.g. cancer) or life course (for
example, menopause); sexual hygiene; tuberculosis; modernization
and medicine; epidemics in Japanese history; public health issues
(from abortion, to health insurance, to brain death).
As the anticipated course schedule indicates, the lectures will
focus on providing a historical perspective, and are supplemented
by readings. The assigned textbooks focus on modern and contemporary
issues and medical systems, and it is expected that students will
become well acquainted with these works.
Course Policies
15% of course grade: One film report, of no less than 1200 words,
on the film Akahige (Red Beard). Due by 2/18.
20% of course grade: A first quiz, on 2/11, worth , based on lectures
and readings. Students should also be familiar with East Asian
Medicine in Urban Japan.
35% of course grade: A term paper of about 3500 words, on a topic
which has been discussed in advance with the instructor. Due by
3/03.
20% of course grade: A second quiz, on 3/12. It will focus on
The Modern Epidemic, and material covered since the first
quiz.
10% of course grade: Attendance.
Graduate students: in addition to a longer term paper (4500 words),
a book report on Conlan (5 pages, approx. 1200 words) is required.
Required Texts
Texts: To be read thoroughly and repeatedly throughout the course.
Margaret Lock. East Asian Medicine in Urban Japan.
William Johnston. The Modern Epidemic.
Course Schedule
| Week 1 |
Reading |
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1/05 Class 1: Course Introduction.
1/07 Class 2: Afflictions of the Classical Aristocracy.
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| Week 2 |
Reading |
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1/12 Class 3: Images of Illness (1): The Scroll of Afflictions.
1/14 Class 4: Medieval Advances: New Medical Knowledge
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| Week 3 |
Reading |
| 1/19 Martin Luther
King Day - NO Class.
1/21 Class 5: Medieval Advances: Chinese and Arabic Drugs.
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| Week 4 |
Reading |
| 1/26 Class 6: Medieval
Advances: Warfare and Wound Medicine.
1/28 Class 7: Images of Illness (2): The Scroll of Gross
Afflictions.
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| Week 5 |
Reading |
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2/02 Class 8: FILM, Akahige (Redbeard).
2/04 Class 9: FILM, Akahige (Redbeard).
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| Week 6 |
Reading |
| 2/09 Class 10: Late
Medieval Doctors and Patients: Yamashina Tokitsune.
2/11 Class 11: First quiz.
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| Week 7 |
Reading |
| 2/16 Class 12: Tokugawa
Health (1) - Sex and Health.
2/18 Class 13: Tokugawa Health (2) - Ailments, Medicines.
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| Week 8 |
Reading |
| 2/23 Class 14: Tokugawa
Health (3) - Dutch Medicine, Anatomy, Breast Cancer.
2/25 Class 15: Modernity and Health (1): Beri-beri, cholera,
influenza
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| Week 9 |
Reading |
| 3/01 Class 16: Modernity
and Health (2): Tuberculosis.
3/03 Class 17: Modernity and Health (3): Hepatitis; Film:
Dr. Akagi (Kanzô sensei).
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| Week 10 |
Reading |
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3/08 Class 18: Film: Dr. Akagi (Kanzô sensei).
3/10 Class 19: Second quiz.
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