ANTH 02225 - Arts and Medicine

Credits: 3

This course will introduce students to the ways in which the arts - - dance, drama, music, art, and poetry - - are a part of therapeutic encounters in a variety of sociocultural contexts. Students will explore how the arts are employed in the diagnosis of disease, facilitate the creative expression of the illness experience, and motivate “healing” through self-transformational processes. Ethnographic films and experiential exercises led by guest speakers who incorporate the arts in therapeutic practice will complement the lectures and reading materials. Students will also engage in their own ethnographic research on the aesthetic aspects of medical practices.

Course Attributes: ARTL, CAT, UGRD