This course introduces students to the field of health humanities, highlighting the ways humanities can throw light on complex inter-relationships between culture, medicine and health. It focuses on the health humanities in performance, text and visual media and is divided into modules to enable students to practice perspective-taking, observation, embodied learning and creative synthesis:
1) Personal accounts of illness - pathographies
2) Representations of the body and selfhood
3) Embodiment and health
4) Institutions and health care
These four modules will be linked through three health humanities themes: cultural constructions of health and health care; narrative and visual representations of illness, health and well-being; and performance and health. Expert seminars will be presented by writers, dance artists, visual artists, and game developers. Students will develop a portfolio of work including an analysis of a pathography or a creative reflection on illness; an analysis of a visual work; and an analysis of a media representation of illness, health condition, or health intervention.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Critically and reflectively analyse written and visual media.
- Analyse cultural discourses and themes which structure representations of health, illness and medicine.
- Apply narrative to illness and medicine.
- Integrate social and cultural contexts in the understanding of health and disease.
- Work creatively and collaboratively.
Other Information
Students are expected to engage with and discuss a variety of stimulus material. Some of this material will be chosen by the student to illustrate key concepts throughout the course.
A quota will apply to admission to this course. Students must register an expression of interest to enrol. Selection is based on (i) the quality of the EoI, demonstrating those students whose transcripts indicate a willingness to explore learning outside their majors/minors, and (ii) relevant disciplinary and sub-disciplinary knowledge bases. The final participant list is drawn from all colleges of the university. The intent is to select students who show potential to engage actively in the course, and also bring with them diverse sets of academic, social and cultural knowledge, adding richness to the cohort’s learning.
Indicative Assessment
- Presentation of visual representation of health, illness or medicine (20) [LO 1,2,3]
- Analysis of pathography (30) [LO 1,2]
- Creating and communicating a representation of illness, health condition, or health intervention (hurdle assessment) (includes group work) (45) [LO 2,3,4,5]
- Engagement (5) [LO 5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Face-to-face component which may consist of 1 x 2 hour lecture and 1 x 1hour tutorial per week (36 hours total).
- Approximately 94 hours of self-directed study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.
Inherent Requirements
No specific inherent requirements have been identified for this course
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the School of Medicine and Psychology to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
n/a
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 14
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8998 | 21 Jul 2025 | 28 Jul 2025 | 31 Aug 2025 | 24 Oct 2025 | In Person | N/A |