Medical Humanities

Dr. Michael J. Klein, Coordinator
Phone: (540) 568-3763            Email: kleinmj@jmu.edu
Website: http://www.jmu.edu/medical-humanities

The cross disciplinary minor in medical humanities provides students with a humanistic and social study of illness, health and the body. Typically, we approach the human body from a medical, diagnostic model. But physicians have long recognized that this approach to health and well-being is not sufficient for understanding our somatic life. Drawing upon concepts found in the disciplines contributing to the minor, courses in the curriculum share the common focus of examining how individuals and institutions articulate and disseminate conceptions of the body, including constituent issues such as race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender.

Students select a minimum of 18 credit hours taken from a list of approved courses. No more than two courses from a single subject (e.g. ANTH, ENG, SCOM, SOCI) can count toward the minor.