AH4262 The Arts of Healing: Images, Technologies, and Spaces of Premodern Medicine

Academic year

2026 to 2027 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module Staff

Dr Ariella Minden

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module examines the visual and material culture of medicine in the late medieval and early modern periods to consider how materials and infrastructures informed medical practice, historical conceptions surrounding the body, and cultures of care. A thematic, object-centred approach is used to study objects of diverse provenance, ranging from maiolica pharmaceutical jars made in Sicily to wax votive effigies in Brazil to hospital architecture in Cairo as part of the varied material culture of medicine and healing. Furthermore, the longue durée history of certain categories of object sheds light on the role of late antique and early medieval Islamic and Hebrew medical traditions, without which European medical practice would not exist. This rich visual and material archive, often excluded from canonical histories of art, also offers insight into how individuals and societies confronted illness, concepts of purity and contamination, and developed infrastructures for public health.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS AH2001 AND PASS AH2002

Assessment pattern

100% coursework

Re-assessment

100% coursework

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 lecture (x11 weeks), 1 seminar (x11 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

59

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

238

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • analyze and interpret works of art and architecture with confidence and precision; this includes describing forms, processes, tools, and materials with appropriate technical vocabulary introduced in lectures and readings.
  • analyze and interpret primary sources, developing the ability to critically assess the value of a diverse array of sources from the literary to the archival.
  • enter into scholarly dialogue with secondary sources, understanding the stakes of various historiographical debates and their contribution to the broader fields of the histories of art and science.
  • conduct independent research through the use of library resources, and the study of artworks and written primary sources, in order to develop an original argument presented in a clear and compelling manner.
  • present information, ideas, and arguments clearly in both written and spoken form, using visual aids, working to deadline, and participate constructively in group discussion.