View Specification DocumentBodies of Knowledge: Histories of Gender and Health ESH4096
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Social and Political Sciences
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course will introduce students to gender theory through the topic of health, exploring the ways in which societal and medical understandings of sex and gender binaries have impacted health and wellbeing.
The course will take a thematic approach, highlighting significant moments in history which exemplify the relationship between gender and health from the mid-18th century into the 21st century, engaging with the perspectives of practitioners, patients, and policymakers. It will also assess the intersections of class, race and sexuality on gendered health experiences.
As an interdisciplinary approach to analysing medicine and health through the lens of society and culture, this course is of particular relevance to students interested in gender theory, health inequalities and the medical humanities.
Timetable
Two contact hours per week for 10 weeks.
Lecture: one hour a week
Seminar: one hour a week
Requirements of Entry
Enrolment in an MA (Soc Sci) or MA (Arts) Honours Programme
Excluded Courses
N/A
Co-requisites
N/A
Assessment
■ Essay, 3000 words, not including references (60%)
■ Critical reading log, 1500 words, not including references (40%)
Grading will be based upon Schedule A of the University Code of Assessment.
Course Aims
This course aims to provide students with an active learning experience which will enable them to gain an understanding of, and confidence in, gender theory, particularly in the context of historical research. During this course, students will develop skills in independent thinking and effective communication with the ability to develop critical arguments which analyse the impact of gender dynamics in health and healthcare. They will further enhance their investigative skills and gain experience approaching historical research through the lens of gender and health. In doing so, they will become ethically and social aware graduates who recognise the importance of historical perspectives in contemporary debates and issues and can articulate the ways in which gendered experiences are compounded by wider factors, including class, race, and sexuality.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Explain the influence of gender, and/or the development of gender theory, on the history of health and healthcare.
■ Evaluate the key historical debates concerning the relationship between gender, health and healthcare in the modern period.
■ Construct critical arguments about the relationship between gender and health and/or healthcare, informed by historical debate and a range of relevant scholarly literature.
■ Apply gender theories to primary sources related to the history of health and healthcare.