Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Medicine in context - histories and cultures of biomedical science
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3558-24-00-00	There are no available seats
	Enrollment deadline: 02/11/2024

Date and time	02.12.2024, at: 09:00 - 06.12.2024, at: 14:00
Regular seats	18
Course fee	7,680.00 kr.
Lecturers	Adam Bencard
ECTS credits	4.00

Contact person	Cecilie Glerup E-mail address: cecilie.glerup@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list. Learning objectives A student who has met the objectives of the course will: 1. Have knowledge of and ability to contextualize biomedicine in historical and cultural contexts, including important insights into the historical circumstances that have shaped both clinical and laboratory scientific practices. 2. Knowledge of current theory on science communications and public engagement with science. 3. Have insights into contemporary discussions of biomedicine in culture, including critical perspectives on health and science communication/science and society relations 4. Understanding of and ability to discuss and assess biomedical scientific practices as both culturally influenced and culturally influencing. Content No matter the historical period or cultural context, medical thoughts and practices are always powerful cultural and societal forces, shaping how health, disease and bodies are understood. This is no different for contemporary biomedical science and its clinical applications. In fact, it seems that biomedicine is evermore present in all aspects of our individual lives as well as in our social fabric: Diagnosis are proliferating to the point where critics speaks of a diagnostic society; health care spending is growing massively across most western societies; more and more people rely on pharmaceutical interventions from pain medicine to weight loss medications to manage life; everything from diet, sleep, exercise and a host of other bodily experiences are modulated by and understood through biomedicine. There is more reason than ever to grapple with biomedicine as more than molecules and laboratory protocols. This course is aimed at PhD students working within biomedicine and its clinical applications – or those who study it from social science or humanities perspectives – and who are interested in the many broader social and cultural discussions surrounding it. The course is broadly divided into two parts: The first is focused on exploring the histories of biomedicine, using a genealogical method to explore the why and how of its development, in order to ask critical and explorative questions. This part of the course examines the origins of scientific medicine, the history of laboratory science and the development of our current diagnostic frameworks and categories. The second part takes its point of departure in the wider contemporary landscape of medical thought and practice, exploring some of the fraught and complicated sites and interactions between biomedical science and society. This includes discussions of the processes of medicalization, where more and more of life is brought into and treated in a medical domain, as well as diving into some of the epistemic challenges currently being raised, including criticism of RTC’s and the cycles of hypes and hopes associated with certain scientific fields such genetics, microbiome research and stem cell research. Additionally, the course will present several critical and activist perspectives on biomedicine, including feminist and disability studies perspectives. Finally, the course also looks at the fraught landscape of public engagement with science and science communication. Organized, hosted and taught by researchers at the Medical Museion, the University of Copenhagen’s museum for the culture and history of medicine, the course uses the museum’s resources throughout the course, including its exhibitions and extensive collections of the material culture of medicine and the medical sciences. The course is thus thoroughly material and object-based. Do note that you also have to hand in a 10-15 pages assignment to be completed in the week after the course. The course days will prepare you for how to make the assignment. Below is a day-by-day overview of the course: Day 1: Prehistories of biomedicine 9-10: Introduction to the course (aims + purpose + structure) + students 1-minute presentation (Adam + Karin) 10-11: Humoral theories (+ visit to the exhibition Balance and Metabolism) (Adam) 11-12: Rise of pathological anatomy (+ visit to the exhibition The Body Collected) (Karin) 12-13: Lunch 13-14: Histories of the laboratory + connections to biomedicine (Adam) Day 2: Rise and unfolding of biomedicine in the 20th century and beyond 9-10: Histories of diagnosis (+ possible re-visit to the exhibition The Body Collected) (Karin) 10-11: Histories of diagnosis and contemporary biomedicine (Karin) 11-12: Genomic rhetoric and cycles of hype and hope (Adam) 12-13: Lunch 13-14: Medicalization and the expansive nature of biomedicine (Adam) Day 3: Is medicine still good for us, part 1 – philosophical challenges 9-10: Epistemic challenges (RCTs, magic bullets) (Karin) 10-11: Post-genomic medicine and the entangled body (+ visit to the exhibition Mind the Gut) (Adam) 11-12: The entangled body continued (Adam) 12-13: Lunch 13-14: Health complexity and limitations of biomedicine (Adam) Day 4: Is medicine still good for us, part 2 – political/activist challenges 9-10: Feminist critiques of medicine (Adam + invited speaker) 10-11: Critical disability studies (Adam) 11-12: Post-colonial perspectives (Adam + invited speaker) 12-13: Lunch 13-14: Student-led discussion (everyone brings a question/provocation) (Adam) Day 5: Between science and society 9-10: Foundations/history of science communication (Louise) 10-11: Conspiracies, anti-science movements and the challenges of complexity (Adam) 11-12: The medical museum as a site for conversations on health and well-being (Ken) 12-13: Lunch 13-14: Discussion on science communication and wrap-up session (Adam) The curriculum is interdisciplinary and consists of texts from both humanities and social science. From the humanities, we use texts from history of (bio)medicine, notably in relation to the history of diagnosis and the rise of laboratory science. Furthermore, we explore the philosophy of medicine and how it enables critical thinking in relation to historical and contemporary medical practice. From social science, we will both read texts from the sociology and ethnography of (medical) science, topical texts on science communication in a medical and museum context as well as texts with normative political stances on contemporary medicine. Participants This course is ideal for PhD students at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences who are interested in learning more about biomedicine in broader cultural and social contexts. Additionally, the course will also be of interest to PhD students from the humanities and social science who are interested in or work directly with biomedicine and the wider health landscape. Relevance to graduate programmes The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: Medicine, Culture and Society All graduate programmes Language English Form Being located at the Medical Museion, the University of Copenhagen’s museum for the culture and history of medicine, the course combines lectures and group discussions with exhibition tours and object-handling sessions. Additionally, the students will be given time to write reflection diaries, putting some of their thought and concerns into writing during the course. The course will finish with a one-week written assignment (approx. 10-15 pages), in which the participants will use their reflection diaries and the knowledge gained during the course as a starting point for reflecting on some of the issues and themes raised during the course. This is both a chance for the participants to delve deeper into some of the course literature, as well as a way to practice critical reflection and analysis of biomedicine in culture. Do set aside time to complete the assignment. Course director Adam Bencard, Associate Professor, Medical Museion and CBMR, adam@sund.ku.dk Teachers Karin Tybjerg, Associate Professor, Medical Museion and CBMR Louise Whiteley, Associate Professor, Medical Museion and CBMR Ken Arnold, Professor and Director, Medical Museion and CBMR Adam Bencard, Associate Professor, Medical Museion and CBMR We will invite two of our post.docs from Museion as invited speakers on day 4. Dates 2-6 of December 2024 Course location Medical Museion, Bredgade 62 Registration Please register before 2. November 2024 Expected frequency Once a year Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment. Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

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