About Us

Health/Medical Humanities is an interdisciplinary field that uses humanistic perspectives to understand health and healthcare. The minor is supported by faculty and classes across CLAS, including from the departments and majors of Africana Studies, Anthropology, Chemistry, Communication Studies, Criminal Justice, History, Language and Cultural Studies, and Philosophy.

The Health/Medical Humanities minor is a 19-credit interdisciplinary minor engaged in the humanistic and cultural study of illness, health, healthcare, and the body. This program explores the experience of illness, mortality, fragility, health, and healthcare settings through literature, the arts, and the social sciences. This minor is also intended to enhance personal reflection, critical thinking skills, and the ability to understand the personal, social, historical, and cultural contexts of health, illness, and medical care.

The minor is housed in CLAS, but is open to all students in the university. Students take two required classes (HHUM-2100, Introduction to Health/Medical Humanities (3-credits); and HHUM-4100, Portfolio Capstone in Health/Medical Humanities (1-credit)). In between these two classes, students take 5 approved electives from a range of departments from the social sciences, humanities, arts, and natural sciences. Throughout, students investigate questions of health, healing, and disease from multiple disciplinary perspectives and integrate their insights in an interdisciplinary portfolio as a capstone project.