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%