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2022/2023

Medicine, Cinema and Literature

Code: 103529 ECTS Credits: 3
Degree Type Year Semester
2502442 Medicine OT 2 2
2502442 Medicine OT 3 0
2502442 Medicine OT 4 0
2502442 Medicine OT 5 0
2502442 Medicine OT 6 0
2504235 Science, Technology and Humanities OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
Carlos Tabernero Holgado
Email:
carlos.tabernero@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

Besides Catalan, Spanish and English are also used.

Prerequisites

None.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Medicine, Film and Literature is a subject taken during the second semester of the second course of the Degree in Medicine as an optional subject.
 
The main objectives are:
To introduce the student to the consideration and experimentation of the cinema as a vehicle of cultural reflection / construction,
as an instrument of research, documentation and scientific-medical popularization,
and as a pedagogical tool in the fields of history, science, medicine and technology.
 
To introduce the student to the knowledge of various forms of communication linked to science, medicine and technology and,
especially, the relationship of media with the processes of generation, circulation and management
of scientific, medical and technological knowledge, as well as as its intervention in sociocultural transformations throughout history.
 
To introduce the student to the analysis of the role of cinema in the social construction of health and medical images, processes and
their professionals in contemporary societies, paying special attention to the exploration,
through literary and cinematographic practices and discourses, of the role of the natural sciences and technology in medicalization processes,
and in relation to medical and health practices and discourses, the systems of organization and social control,
and the perception / self-perception of the health-disease processes.
 
The teaching methodology combines face-to-face sessions (film and seminar projection) with readings and additional viewing
of film materials by students.
 

Competences

    Medicine
  • Communicate clearly, orally and in writing, with other professionals and the media.
  • Critically assess and use clinical and biomedical information sources to obtain, organise, interpret and present information on science and health.
  • Demonstrate basic research skills.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the historical principles underlying health, illness and the medical profession.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the importance and the limitations of scientific thought to the study, prevention and management of diseases.
  • Demonstrate, in professional activity, a perspective that is critical, creative and research-oriented.
  • Recognise the basic elements of the medical profession as the result of an evolving, scientific, social and cultural process, including ethical principles, legal responsibilities and patient-oriented professional practice.
  • Use information and communication technologies in professional practice.
    Science, Technology and Humanities
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the relationships between nature and culture using concepts from anthropology, philosophy and history.
  • Display a capacity for organisation and planning and, at the same time, for adapting to new problems or situations.
  • Innovate in the methods and processes of this area of knowledge in response to the needs and wishes of society.
  • Make critical use of digital tools and interpret specific documentary sources.
  • Produce written papers and give effective oral presentations, adopting the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Recognise the political, social and cultural dimension of science and technology development in the different historical periods.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Acquire a broad vision of the different methodologies in historiography.
  2. Apply the knowledge acquired and the ability to solve problems to complex situations concerning the humanities, including specialist professional activities that require creative, innovative ideas.
  3. Assess the quality of your own work.
  4. Clearly and effectively communicate orally and in writing with other professionals and with the Media.
  5. Collect and interpret data on which to substantiate the conclusions drawn, including, where necessary, a reflection on social, scientific or ethical matters in the field of humanities.
  6. Communicate clearly, orally and in writing, with other professionals and the media.
  7. Compare the different theoretical approaches to culture.
  8. Compare the reading of cultural phenomena from different ideologies present in Catalan and Spanish society.
  9. Coordinate historical knowledge with knowledge of the humanities and the different social and juridical sciences.
  10. Correctly use databases and bibliographic, encyclopaedic and lexicographical reference works in the health sciences.
  11. Define the factors determining healthcare transition in today's world.
  12. Define the social phenomena behind cultural policies and conflicts.
  13. Define the sociological concepts for interpreting cultural phenomena.
  14. Demonstrate a diachronic vision of healthcare institutions and the healthcare strategies implemented.
  15. Demonstrate basic research skills.
  16. Demonstrate, in professional activity, a perspective that is critical, creative and research-oriented.
  17. Describe the historical background of the healthcare professions from the perspective of medical pluralism.
  18. Describe the human being as a multidimensional entity, in which the interrelationship of biological, psychological, social, ecological and ethical factors has an impact on states of health and illness, together with the manifestations of these.
  19. Describe the person as a multidimensional being in which the interplay of biological, psychological, social, environmental and ethical factors determines and alters the states of health and disease and their manifestations.
  20. Develop critical thinking and reasoning and communicate ideas effectively, both in the mother tongue and in other languages.
  21. Develop independent learning strategies.
  22. Display advanced knowledge and understanding of theory and practice and of the work methodologies specific to the humanities, thus achieving a high level in knowledge generation.
  23. Display an approach that is critical, creative and research-oriented in professional activity.
  24. Display basic-level research skills.
  25. Distinguish between the paternalistic concept of the physician-patient relationship of the Hippocratic tradition and the modern-day concept of a more equal relationship, in which the patient is the protagonist.
  26. Distinguish between the paternalistic conception of the doctor–patient relationship, deriving from the Hippocratic tradition, and the modern, more egalitarian approach which gives all protagonism to the patient.
  27. Effectively communicating the basic analysis of social phenomena in an elementary level of English.
  28. Evaluate the consequences for patients of the diversity in healthcare practice and professions.
  29. Explain the role of the healthcare professional as a critical and empathetic agent of social change, working for the health of the community.
  30. Explain the social interpretations of culture in accordance with these approaches.
  31. Express the debates around these approaches, with regard to culture.
  32. Generate innovative and competitive proposals for research and professional activities.
  33. Give an oral presentation in an academic or work-related context.
  34. Have a general knowledge of world history in the different historical periods.
  35. Identify changes and continuities in the forms and contents of the medicalisation process.
  36. Identify the origins and the institutionalisation of scientific activity, and the epistemological bases of scientific thought in the health sciences.
  37. Identify the processes of professionalisation in the field of the health sciences and the tendency towards specialisation.
  38. Know the theoretical foundations of the different currents in historiography.
  39. Know thoroughly the history of a geographic and cultural area.
  40. Make correct use of databases and works of reference (bibliographies, encyclopedias, and dictionaries) in the health sciences.
  41. Manage time: Make a study plan, manage the relationship with a tutor or adviser, and set and comply with suitable deadlines for a project.
  42. Plan strategies for analysing processes of social change, based on the interpretation of documentary, oral and material sources.
  43. Recognise and distinguish the different medical traditions that make up the current health panorama.
  44. Recognise health and illness as socially determined constructions that change over time.
  45. Recognise the facet of humanitarian activity at the service of health based on the physician-patient relationship, both in terms of health care and of teaching and research.
  46. Recognise the scope and the limitations of scientific thought in the health sciences.
  47. Recognise the states of health and illness as socially determined constructs which change from culture to culture and over time.
  48. Recognize the humanitarian aspect of activity in the service of health based on the doctor-patient relationship, both in care and in teaching and research.
  49. Relate the debates around these approaches, referring to culture, to the historical context in which they arose.
  50. Relate theoretical approaches to the debates on social order and on action.
  51. Respect diversity in ideas, people and situations.
  52. Search for documentary sources on the basis of concepts.
  53. Search for historical and historiographic bibliography in repositories and catalogues and locate primary and secondary sources on the web.
  54. Show familiarity with the basic conceptual tools of sociology, anthropology, economics and political science.
  55. Synthesise, analyse and explain complex qualitative and quantitative information on cultures, geographic spaces, social groups, legal frameworks and different historical periods.
  56. Understand medical science as knowledge in construction, subject to constant change, posing new challenges and opportunities.
  57. Understand the historical chronologies and their historiographic meaning.
  58. Use information and communication technologies in professional activity.
  59. Use information and communication technologies in professional practice.

Content

A. Introduction to film and literary analysis, with emphasis on the relationship medicine-film-literature.
										
											B. Block dedicated to doctors.
										
											C. Block dedicated to Public Health.
										
											D. Block dedicated to patients and diseases
										
											E. Block of conclusions.

Methodology

The subject is based on a theoretical-practical methodology through discussion sessions about bibliographic and filmographic materials that are provided during the semester.

In the event that activities and tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on TEAMS, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
THEORY (TE) 26 1.04
Type: Supervised      
TUTORIALS 7.5 0.3 59
Type: Autonomous      
TASK DEVELOPMENT / PERSONAL STUDY / PAPER READING / INTEREST REPORTS 37.5 1.5 59

Assessment

The evaluation of the subject is continued in relation to:
-Active participation in class discussions, which will include two short essays to be assigned during the semester
(30% of the final grade each written essay).
- The preparation of a final written work, to be done as a team, in relation to a specific topic integrated into
the contents and competences of the subject, and where the student will have to demonstrate their capacity to investigate,
 situate historically and analyze critically any problem related to the contents of the subject (40% of the final grade).
- The students who do not take the evaluation tests (small essays and final work) will be considered as 'Not Evaluable',
exhausting the rights to the registration of the subject.
- In case of need, a recovery test (exam) will be carried out for those students who do not pass the continuous
assessment tests as a whole. To participate in the recovery, the students must have been previously
 evaluated in a set of activities whose weight equals a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the subject and have obtained a minimum grade of 3.5 out of 10 .
 

In the event that activities and tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained).

Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on TEAMS, etc.

Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Short essay 1 30% 1 0.04 33, 2, 3, 52, 7, 8, 27, 6, 4, 39, 38, 13, 11, 12, 22, 15, 24, 14, 16, 23, 17, 19, 18, 21, 20, 26, 25, 56, 57, 29, 30, 31, 32, 41, 35, 36, 37, 44, 47, 43, 46, 48, 45, 5, 49, 50, 51, 9, 53, 42, 55, 54, 34, 1, 40, 10, 59, 58, 28
Short essay 2 30% 1 0.04 33, 2, 3, 52, 7, 8, 27, 6, 4, 39, 38, 13, 11, 12, 22, 15, 24, 14, 16, 23, 17, 19, 18, 21, 20, 26, 25, 56, 57, 29, 30, 31, 32, 41, 35, 36, 37, 44, 47, 43, 46, 48, 45, 5, 49, 50, 51, 9, 53, 42, 55, 54, 34, 1, 40, 10, 59, 58, 28
Team essay 40% 2 0.08 33, 2, 3, 52, 7, 8, 27, 6, 4, 39, 38, 13, 11, 12, 22, 15, 24, 14, 16, 23, 17, 19, 18, 21, 20, 26, 25, 56, 57, 29, 30, 31, 32, 41, 35, 36, 37, 44, 47, 43, 46, 48, 45, 5, 49, 50, 51, 9, 53, 42, 55, 54, 34, 1, 40, 10, 59, 58, 28

Bibliography

Bibliographic sources of digital access will be provided during the semester. However, below are reference works that may also be used.

 

- Apple, Rima D.; Apple, Michael W. (1993). Screening Science. Isis 84(4): 750-754

- Boon, Timothy (2008). Films of Fact: A History of Science in Documentary Film and Television. London/New York: Wallflower Press

- Bräuchler, B., Postill, J. (eds.) (2010). Theorising Media as Practice. Oxford / New York: Berghahn.

- Cooter, Roger; Pumphrey, Stephen. (1994). “Separate Spheres and Public places: Reflections on the History of Science popularisation and science in popular culture”. History of Science 32: 237-267

- Couldry, Nick (2004) “Theorising Media as Practice”. Social Semiotics 14(2): 115–32

- Elena, Alberto. (2002). Ciencia, Cine e Historia: de Méliès a 2001. Madrid, Alianza

- Ferro, M. (1995 [1977]), Historia contemporánea y cine. Barcelona: Ariel.

- Florensa C, Hochadel O, Tabernero C. (2014). Science on television: Theory meets practice. An introduction. Actes d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, 7:11-16

- Florensa C, Hochadel O, Tabernero C. (2014). Science on television: Audiencies, markets and authority. Some conclusions. Actes d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, 7: 127-136

- Friedman, Lester D. (ed.) (2004). Cultural Sutures: Medicine and Media. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press

- Gabbard, Krin; Gabbard, Glen O. (1987). Psychiatry and the Cinema. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press

- Gilman, Sander L. (1988). Disease and Representation: Images of Illness from Madness to AIDS. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press

- Guzmán M, Tabernero C. (2016). “The city in waves: Radio Barcelona and urban everyday life”. En: Hochadel O, Nieto-Galán A. (eds.) Barcelona (1888-1929). An urban history of science and modernity. Oxford, Routledge, pp. 200-222

- León, Bienvenido (1999). El documental de divulgación científica. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica

- Martinet, Alexis (1994). Le Cinéma et la Science. Paris: CNRS Éditions

- Medina-Doménech, Rosa M.; Menéndez-Navarro, Alfredo (2005). “Cinematic representations of medical technologies in the Spanish oficial newsreel, 1943-1970”. Public Understanding of Science, 14: 393-408

- Mendiguchía Olalla, Ignacio; Santiago Lardón, José A. (2003). La medicina en el cine. Madrid: PBM

- Molero Mesa J, Medà I, Alcalá-Lorente M, Tabernero C. (2016). “El imperativo científico-técnico en Night of the Living Dead (G.A. Romero, 1968)”. En: Bernat P. (ed.) Ciencia y ficción. Barcelona, Taliots/IEC/SCHCT, pp. 97-104

- Nieto-Galán, Agustí [2011, en preparación]. Los públicos de la ciencia. Expertos y profanos a través de la historia. Barcelona: Marcial Pons Historia

- Papanelopoulou, Faidra; Nieto-Galan, Agustí; Perdiguero, Enrique (eds.) (2009). Popularizing Science and Technology in the European Periphery, 1800–2000. Farnham (U.K.); Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate

- Revista de Medicina y Cine <http://revistamedicinacine.usal.es/>

- Seale, Clive (2004). Media and Health. London: Sage

- Secord, James A. (2004). “Knowledge in Transit”. Isis 95: 654–672

- Shinn, Terry; Whitley, Richard (eds.) (1985). Expository science: forms and functions of popularization. Dordrecht: Reidel.

- Snow, Charles P. (1959/1998) The two cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

- Tabernero, Carlos (2006). “L’Audiència-meca: ciència, tecnologia i la condició humana en el cinema de Stanley Kubrick i Steven Spielberg”. Mètode 48: 71-76

- Tabernero, Carlos (2010). Discursos y representaciones médico-sanitarias en el cine documental colonial español de la posguerra (1939-1950). Barcelona: Centro de Historia de la Ciencia (CEHIC) / Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB) <http://www.recercat.net/handle/2072/97216>

- Tabernero, Carlos (2016). “Cine y procesos de medicalización: documentales médico-coloniales de la posguerra española (1946-1949)”. En: Brigidi S. (ed.) Cultura, Salud, Cine y Televisión. Tarragona, Publicacions de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili, pp. 169-207

- Tabernero, Carlos; Perdiguero, Enrique. (2016). “Cine y medicina: imágenes sobre la salud y la enfermedad”. En: Brigidi S. (ed.) Cultura, Salud, Cine y Televisión. Tarragona, Publicacions de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili, pp. 257-294

- Tabernero, Carlos (2016). Terapias de cine. Barcelona, UOC

- Tabernero, Carlos (2016). “Cine, ciencia y ficción: La máquina de Stanley Kubrick”. En: Bernat P. (ed.) Ciencia y ficción. Barcelona, Taliots/IEC/SCHCT, pp. 185-192

- Tabernero, Carlos; Jiménez-Lucena, Isabel; Molero-Mesa Jorge (2016). Colonial scientific-medical documentary films in 1940s Spain as legitimating tools for Franco’s regime. Manguinhos (en prensa)

- Thompson, John B. (1995). The Media and Modernity. A Social Theory of Media. Cambridge: Polity Press

- Topham, Jonathan R. (2009). “Focus: Historicizing ‘Popular Science’. Introduction” Isis 100(2): 310-318

- VV.AA. (1983). Journal of Contemporary History 18(3). [Monográfico sobre “cine e historia”].

- VV.AA. (1989). Sylva Clius 8. [Monográfico sobre “cine e historia de la ciencia”].

- VV.AA. (2006). Fotogrames de ciència. Mètode 48: 57-108. / Anuario 2006: 198-237 [Monográfico sobre “ciencia y cine”].

- VV.AA. (2009). Focus: Historicizing ‘Popular Science’. Isis 100(2): 310-368

- Wear, Andrew (ed.)(1992). Medicine in Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Software

In addition to web and Office tools, such as the campus online, email, Google docs, word, powerpoint and excel, tools such as wetransfer, dropbox or the VLC audiovisual file reader will be used.