UNIVERSITY OF KENT
MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
SECTION 1: MODULE SPECIFICATIONS
1.
Title of the module: Illness and Disability in American Culture
2.
School which will be responsible for management of the module: School of English
3.
Start date of the module: 2013-2014
4.
The cohort of students (onwards) to which the module will be applicable: Autumn 2013
5.
The number of students expected to take the module: 12
6.
Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and consultation
with other relevant Schools and Faculties regarding the withdrawal: None
7.
Level of the module (e.g. Certificate [C], Intermediate [I], Honours [H] or Postgraduate
[M]): M
8.
The number of credits which the module represents: 30
Note: undergraduate full-time students take modules amounting to 120 credits per year
and postgraduate full-time students take modules amounting to 180 credits per year for a
Masters award
9.
Which term(s) the module is to be taught in (or other teaching pattern): Autumn or
Spring
10. Prerequisite and co-requisite modules: None
11. The programme(s) of study to which the module contributes: MA in English and
American Literature; MA in Transnational American Studies; MA in Medical
Humanities (Numbers and letters below refer to the above three programmes in
this order, divided by slashes).
The intended subject specific learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to
programme learning outcomes
The course will enable students to

develop an understanding of the central role of disability and health/illness in
literature with a focus on American literature/cultural production (10 A.i / 12 C.1
/ 12 A.1; 12 A.2; 12 A.5)

compare and analyze representations of disability and illness in a broad range
of genres/media including life writing, fiction, poetry, drama, film, photography,
multimedia narrative, and popular culture (10 C.iv; 10 C.vi / 12 A.5 / 12 A.1; 12
C.4 )

explore the ways in which meanings attached to bodies and health are
connected to broader questions of American identity and culture and can be
articulated within, and against, literary traditions such as American
autobiography (10 C.i; 10 C.iii / 12 C.4 / 12 A.2)

synthesize material across periods and develop an awareness of how these
relate to preoccupations with health/illness in twentieth- and twentieth-first
century American culture (10 C.1 / 12 B.3 / 12 A.4 )

assess the current popularity of illness narratives in America and their
cultural/political work and speculate on the future of the illness narrative genre
(10 C.viii / 12 C.3 / 12 A.2; 12 A.5)
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
UNIVERSITY OF KENT

develop a critical understanding of how disability and illness intersect with
gender, race, sexuality and age (10 C.ii / 12 C.2; 12 C.3 / 12 C.1)

assess the significance of cross-cultural perspectives to health/illness and
within medical practice (10 C.viii / 12 A.4 / 12 C.1)

critically explore theoretical issues and current debates in the field of disability
studies and medical humanities (10 C.ii / 12 C.5 / 12 C.1)

demonstrate advanced skills in the interdisciplinary evaluation of materials in
the areas of narrative theory, life writing, American studies, visual culture,
disability studies, and medical humanities (10 A.x / 12 C.4; 12 C.5 / 12 A.6; 12
C.6)
12. The intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to
programme learning outcomes
Intended generic learning outcomes include:

an ability to read and analyse texts critically and make comparisons across a
range of literary forms and visual media (10 B. iii)

critical and argumentative skills through short presentations and seminar
discussion (10 D. i; 10 D. ii; 10 D. iii)

an ability to conduct interdisciplinary research by evaluating material from
different sources (10 D. ix; 10 D. iv)

skills to carry out independent research during presentations and essays (10 D.
i; D. v; D. vii)

an ability to critically evaluate and creatively deploy key theoretical
perspectives with reference to questions of disability and illness in American
writing/culture (10 B. iii; 10 B. iv; 10 D. ix)

an ability to construct original, innovative and complex arguments both in class
discussions and in writing (10 D. i; 10 D. ii; 10 D. iii)
13. A synopsis of the curriculum
This module explores representations of illness and disability in American literature
and culture from the nineteenth century to the present, with a particular focus on the
cultural and political work of contemporary illness narratives. The course follows a
thematic rather than chronological framework and is divided into three sections. The
first section has a more historical flavour and is concerned with the disabled and
modified body in American culture. It starts with the history of the nineteenth-century
freak show, and its consideration by disability scholars in week 1, turns to prosthetics
in post-war and contemporary American culture in week 2, and concludes with a
memoir focusing on disability activism during the American counterculture of the 60s
and 70s in week 3. The second section, “Illness as many narratives”, explores a range
of illness narratives and representations of disabled bodies across media. It begins
with a theoretical work, Sontag’s study on illness as metaphor (week 3), and proceeds
to investigate illness as metaphor and the politics of illness using as case studies
cancer and AIDS narratives from the twentieth century, including a consideration of
drama, photography and multimedia narrative experiments. In week 7, we turn to
fiction and read DeLillo’s novel White Noise alongside questions of statistical panic
and fears of illness and death in postmodern American culture. Weeks 8 and 9
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
continue the exploration of illness in life writing (especially within the memoir as a
genre) looking at the medicalisation of emotions (in particular during adolescence) and
the emergence of “new” diseases such as Alzheimer’s. These two weeks raise
questions about the relationship of mental and cognitive illness to age. The final
section of the module entitled “The Art of Medicine” turns to the depiction of doctors
and their patients’ conditions in American fiction, memoir and poetry written by
doctors, as well as in popular culture. Particular attention is given here, through the
autobiographical accounts of a Cuban American doctor and a Navajo female surgeon,
to the importance of adopting cross-cultural perspectives on health/illness, and within
medical practice, and to the rise of medical humanities as an academic field. A brief
lecture will introduce each of the sections to provide theoretical underpinning.
14. Indicative Reading List
Core reading and indicative seminar plan:
(The list below is for illustration. The set text may vary according to availability).
I: Extraordinary Bodies in America
Week 1
Rosemarie Garland Thomson, “The Cultural Work of American Freak Shows, 1835-1940” in
Extraordinary Bodies
Freaks, dir. Tod Browning (film clips)
Week 2
David Serlin, “Introduction: Can Humans be Rebuilt” and Chapter 1: “The Other Arms Race”
in Replaceable You: Engineering the Body in Postwar America
The Best Years of Our Lives, dir. William Wyler (film clips)
“Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs” (online video)
Week 3
Simi Linton, My Body Politic
II: Illness as Many Narratives
Week 4
Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors
Week 5
Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals
The Art of Matuschka (photographs)
Rachel Plotnick, “Dad’s Cancer: A Multimedia Illness Narrative Experiment”
Week 6 READING WEEK
Week 7
Tony Kushner, Angels in America
Week 8
Don DeLillo, White Noise
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
Week 9
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America
Marion Roach, “Another Name for Madness”
III: The Art of Medicine
Week 10
Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor
William Carlos Williams, selections from The Doctor Stories
Oliver Sacks, “The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”
Week 11
Rafael Campo, selected poems from What the Body Told
Lori Arviso Alvord, selections from The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman
Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing
Clips from House MD (TV series)
Indicative secondary reading:
Marquard Smith and Joanne Morra, eds. The Prosthetic Impulse
Graham Pullin, Design Meets Disability
Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic
Arthur Kleinman, The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition
Anne Hunsaker Hawkins, Reconstructing Illness: Studies in Pathography
Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller
Lennard J. Davis, The Disability Studies Reader
Dorothy Nelkin, David P. Willis and Scott V. Parris, eds. A Disease of Society: Cultural and
Institutional Responses to AIDS
Faith McLellan, “‘A Whole Other Story’: The Electronic Narrative of Illness”
David Morris, Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age
Martyn Evans and Ilora G. Finlay, eds. Medical Humanities
Rafael Campo, A Doctor’s Education in Empathy, Identity, and Poetry
Anatole Broyard, Intoxicated by My Illness
Rita Charon, “Narrative Medicine as Witness for the Self-Telling Body”
Havi Carel, Illness: The Art of Living
Lisa Diedrich, Treatments: Language, Politics, and the Culture of Illness
Alan Radley, Works of Illness: Narrative, Picturing and the Social Response to Serious
Disease.
Kathleen Woodward, Statistical Panic: Cultural Politics and the Poetics of the Emotions
15. Learning and Teaching Methods, including the nature and number of contact hours and
the total study hours which will be expected of students, and how these relate to
achievement of the intended learning outcomes
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
The module will be taught by means of a weekly two-hour seminar for ten weeks. Each
seminar will incorporate student presentations on either the texts covered in the
module or broader thematic issues but with an emphasis on developing an
interdisciplinary methodology, in accordance with the module’s subject specific and
generic outcomes. Total contact hours for the module will be 20 hours, and total study
hours for the module will be 300 (devoted to the reading of primary and secondary
texts, seminar preparation and presentations, and essay planning /writing).
16. Assessment methods and how these relate to testing achievement of the intended
learning outcomes
Students will be assessed on a single piece of written work up to 5-6,000 words
presented at the conclusion of the module on a topic agreed with the seminar leader,
normally focusing on one or two key issues addressed during the module. In order to
demonstrate their capacity for independent research and develop their own reading
methods and strategies, students will be encouraged to write on texts not covered
during the seminars and to demonstrate an interdisciplinary approach to the chosen
material. In preparation for this, students will be invited to discuss their proposals with
the seminar leader, who will advise them on further appropriate reading.
17. Implications for learning resources, including staff, library, IT and space
Standard seminar rooms with audio-visual equipment. Much of the critical material is
held in the library but some additional texts may need to be purchased.
18. The School recognises and has embedded the expectations of current disability equality
legislation, and supports students with a declared disability or special educational need
in its teaching. Within this module we will make reasonable adjustments wherever
necessary, including additional or substitute materials, teaching modes or assessment
methods for students who have declared and discussed their learning support needs.
Arrangements for students with declared disabilities will be made on an individual basis,
in consultation with the University’s disability/dyslexia support service, and specialist
support will be provided where needed.
19. Campus(es) where module will be delivered 1: Canterbury
If the module is part of a programme in a Partner College or Validated Institution,
please complete the following:
20. Partner College/Validated Institution: n/a
21. University School (for cognate programmes) or Faculty (for non-cognate programmes)
responsible for the programme
SECTION 2: MODULE IS PART OF A PROGRAMME OF STUDY IN A UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL
Statement by the School Director of Learning and Teaching/School Director of
Graduate Studies (as appropriate): "I confirm I have been consulted on the above module
proposal and have given advice on the correct procedures and required content of module
proposals"
1
Required for information purposes only. Changes of campus will not require re-approval of the
module specification.
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
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Director of Learning and Teaching/Director of Graduate
Studies (delete as applicable)
Date
…………………………………………………
Print Name
Statement by the Head of School: "I confirm that the School has approved the introduction
of the module and, where the module is proposed by School staff, will be responsible for its
resourcing"
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Head of School
Date
…………………………………………………….
Print Name
SECTION 3: MODULE IS PART OF A PROGRAMME IN A PARTNER COLLEGE OR
VALIDATED INSTITUTION
(Where the module is proposed by a Partner College/Validated Institution)
Statement by the Nominated Officer of the College/Validated Institution (delete as
applicable): "I confirm that the College/Validated Institution (delete as applicable) has
approved the introduction of the module and will be responsible for its resourcing"
.................................................................
Nominated Responsible Officer
College/Validated Institution
of
..............................................
Partner
………………………………………………….
Print Name
…………………………………………………..
Post
………………………………………….
Partner College/Validated Institution
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012
Date
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
Module Specification Template
Last updated November 2011
New module specification approved by Faculty 03 December 2012