Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university.

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, the student will be able to:

• account critically for the historical development of medical knowledge and evidence.
• use a number of analytical concepts that are central to the understanding of knowledge in medicine and public health, and understand how these relate to global and local processes as well as agents and social structures.
• use ethnographic accounts to analyse how medical evidence is dependent upon the contexts in which it is produced.
• account in detail for the social dynamics and political decision-making implied in the production of epidemiological evidence in emergency situations.
• highlight and analyse the opportunities, challenges and limitations in the production and application of medical evidence in different settings.

Content

Questions about the production and application of medical knowledge are highly topical in both scientific and public debate. Medical knowledge is central to how contemporary individuals understand and relate to themselves and others. Medicine underpins key areas of political governance, and is linked to major economic interests.

The corona pandemic, with discussions about the spread of infection, mortality and countermeasures, has recently contributed to foreground medical knowledge even further within the public arena and day-to-day politics. This development clearly shows how medical knowledge is intimately intertwined with political, social and cultural processes. The course thus offers a deeper and interdisciplinary understanding of the social role of medical knowledge.

The course aims to provide an in-depth study of key issues at the intersection of medicine and society - on the democratization of knowledge, trust, mistrust and decision-making, as well as key critical instruments for understanding both the emergence of medical knowledge and its implementation and reception, both at the local and global level.

The course underscores epistemological and socio-political issues related to evidence-based medicine and public health. Structured around concrete ethnographic cases, the course provides both an historical and anthropological understanding of medical knowledge in context. Analysing different public health emergencies, like HIV, Ebola or COVID-19, the course illustrates what can we learn from the limitation and problems in making medical evidence.

The course is of interest for students at the master and doctoral level in the humanities, social sciences and medical faculties, interested in medical humanities, the history of evidence-based medicine and public health, its reception and application, and how social and cultural aspects interact with medical knowledge.

Instruction

The language of instruction is English. The course consists of mandatory seminars, lectures and written paper submissions.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on active participation and written examination.