HUM 382-4:      Selected Topics in the Humanities II:

                         Madness, Sanity and Society

 

Department of Humanities, AQ 5115, 778-782-3689

Semester:          Summer, 2009 (1094) D1, Burnaby

Instructor:         Robert Menzies, AQ 5062, 778-782-4552  menzies@sfu.ca

 

Prerequisites:  45 units

 

Course Description:

This interactive seminar will canvass the human conditions and experiences of those members of so-called ÔWesternÕ societies, historical and contemporary, who have variously borne the stigma of Ôlunacy,Õ Ômadness,Õ Ôinsanity,Õ Ôunreason,Õ Ôpsychiatric disorderÕ and Ômental illness.Õ  Course readings, discussions and assignments will chronicle the shifting discourses, social structures, and currents of understanding about madness, sanity and social order that have characterized Western cultures from antiquity to the present.  In so doing, we will illuminate the mutual relations that have prevailed over time between dominant ideas about mental affliction and distress, and the state and civil formations and practices aimed at domesticating ÔdeviantÕ mind-states.  Further, we will explore these questions from the vantage point of ÔmadpersonsÕ themselves, and we will consider the critical role played by psychiatrized people in shaping the ideological, institutional and human history of madness.

 

Seminars:

This seminar will require proactive engagement by all students in the weekly classes and other course activities.  While the instructor will selectively offer introductory lectures, audio-visual presentations and other contextualizing materials, the seminar format will involve collective discussions of course topics, themes and issues, as well as student presentations of assigned content.

 

Required Texts:

Roy Porter. 1991. The Faber Book of Madness. London: Faber & Faber.

Robert Whitaker. 2002. Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill. Perseus Publishing.

David Wright and James Moran (eds). 2006. Mental Health in Canada: Historical Perspectives. McGill-QueenÕs University Press.

Marilyn Bowering. 2006. What It Takes to Be Human. Toronto: Penguin Canada.

Additional course readings will be placed on library reserve, made available on line, and/or distributed in class.

 

Course Requirements:

Assignment 1 (2000 words)               25%

Assignment 2 (4000 words)               50%

In-Class Presentation                          10%

Attendance                                            5%

General Participation                           10%