HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Cultural Studies-Individual Graduate Prog.

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Sigal Gooldin

Coordinator Email: sgoldin@mscc.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Tue 12:30-13:30

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Gili Hammer

Course/Module description:
This seminar examines the rise of 'the pathological' as a modern object of cultural knowledge, and the social mechanisms and political and economic contexts which shape 'modern pathologies' such as eating disorders, addictions, infertility, 'sexual deviance', depression, anxiety, 'yuppie disease', and others. Discussions will refer to the following questions: what is pathology? Is the border between 'the normal' and 'the pathological' always distinct5? How do modern pathological conditions evolve and do they come to be social, physical, and mental realities?

Course/Module aims:
(A)To introduce students with sociological, anthropological, and historical literature on various aspects of physical, mental, and social 'pathologies', with a particular focus on the social construction of 'pathological states'inb late-modernity.
(B)To introduce students with the major analytical tools (theoretical perspectives, concepts, and methodological strategies) for a cultural study of 'pathological states'.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
to develop an individul research project, based on emperical and theoretical knowledge on pathologies and culture in modern societies.

Attendance requirements(%):
minimum 80%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: class meetings, group discussions, individual tutoring.

Course/Module Content:
1. Basic concepts in the study of pathologies in cultures
2. Pathologies and the politics of knowledge
3. Historical transformations in Pathologization and de-pathologization
4. Pathology and social class
5. Medicalization and pathologization of difference and 'others'
6. Pathologies between the global and local
7. Pathologies as a site of conflict

Required Reading:
1) בילו יורם (1983) "הדיבוק ביהדות: הפרעה נפשית כמשאב תרבותי", בתוך מחקרי ירושלים במחשבת ישראל, כרך ב', חוברת ד', ירושלים: האוניברסיטה העברית, המכון למדעי ההתנהגות, 529-563. (נמצא גם במקראת הקורס "מבוא לאנתרופולוגיה").

(2) Rodin Mary (1994) “The Social Construction of the Pre-Menstrual Syndrome” Social Science and Medicine 35(1): 47-56.

(3) Lock, Margaret (2004) "Medicalization: Cultural Concerns" pp. 9534-9539 International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier Ltd.

(4) Conrad Peter (1992) "Medicalization and Social Control" Annual Review of Sociology. 18: 209-232.

Canguilhem, Georges. 1978. On the Normal and The Pathological. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing.
(5) פוקו מישל (1972/1992) "הלא שפויים", כמ' 57-70 בתוך תולדות השיגעון בעידן התבונה. ירושלים: כתר.

(6) גופמן, ארווינג (1963/1983) סטיגמה , פרק 1 עמ' 7-35. ת"א: רשפים.

Hier Sean, P. (2008) "Thinking Beyond Moral Panic: Risk, Responsibility, and the Politics of Moralization" Theoretical Criminology 12(2): 173-190.

(7) Gaines, A. D. 1992. From DSM I to III-R; Voices of self, mastery and the other: A cultural construction of psychiatric calssification. Social Science and Medicine, 35(1), 3-24.

Fee, Dweight (2000) “The Broken Dialogue: Mental Illness as Discourse and Experience” PP. 1-17 In Fee, D. (ed.) Pathology and the Postmodern: Mental Illness as Discourse and Experience. London: Sage
DSM. 1994. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

(8) Bogdan, Robert (1988). Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
גולדין סיגל (2002) "מופעי הגוף הכחוש: ההיסטוריה חברתית של ניראותו". זמנים (78): 36-48.

(9) Rapp, Rayna (2000) Testing Women, Testing Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America. Routledge. [pp. will be given]

השילוני דולב יעל (2004) "מיהו תינוק רצוי? הפלות סלקטיביות בשל אנומליות בכרומוזמי מין בגרמניה וישראל" תיאוריה וביקורת (25): 97-122

(10) Scheper-Hughes, Nancy (2002) "Disease or Deception: Munchausen by Proxy as a Weapon of the Weak" Anthropology & Medicine 9(2): 153-173.

11) Westwood Sallie (1994) "Racism, Mental Illness and the Politics of Identity" pp. 247-265 In Rattansi, A. and Westwood S. (eds.) Racism, Modernity and Identity on the Western Front. Cambridge: Polity.

(11) Carmele, Jill, A. and Anderson, Kristin, A. (2001) "Defining Normal: Constructions of Race and Gender in the DSM-IV Casebook" Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 11, No. 2, 229-247

(12) Crawford, Robert. 1994. The Boundaries of the Self and the Unhealthy Other: Reflections on Health, Culture and AIDS". Social Science and Medicine 38(10):1347-1365.

Epstein Steven (2004) "Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: the Politics of Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States" Body & Society, Vol. 10, No. 2-3, 183-203.

הירש, דפנה (2007) "'הזרמת דם חדש אך פעולת הבראה וחזוק לה': רופאים ציוניים ונישואי התערובת" בתוך שנהב יהודה ויונה יוסי (עורכים) גזענות בישראל . ירושלים ות"א: ואן ליר הקיבוץ המאוחד.

(13) Barker, Kristin. 2002. Self-Help Literature and the Making of an Illness Identity: The Case of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). Social Problems 49(3):279-300.
Fausto-Sterling, Ann (2000) Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, pp. 45-78.

(14) Byron, J. G. (1997). Studying Mental Illness in Context: Local, Global, or Universal? Ethos Vol. 25, No. 2, Ethnography and Sociocultural Processes: A Symposium (Jun., 1997), pp. 230-248

(15) Littlewood, Roland (2002) Pathologies of the West: An Anthropology of Mental Illness in Europe and America. London/New York: Continuum

Watters, Ethan (2008) Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of American Psyche. New York: Free Press.

גורדון, ריצ'ארד (1991) אנורקסיה ובולימיה: אנטומיה של מגיפה חברתית. ת"א: אח. "המימדים החברתיים של מגיפה", עמ' 42-70 .
גולדין סיגל 2002)) "אנורקסיה בישראל או אנורקסיה ישראלית? כמה הערות על סינדרום-תלוי-תרבות בהקשר גלוקאלי" סוציולוגיה ישראלית ד(1): 105-141.

Pike Katheleen and Borovoy Amy (2006) "The Rise of Eating Disorders in Japan: Issues of Culture and Limitations of the Model of 'Westernization"

17) Fox, Nick, Ward Katie, and O'Rourke Alan (2005) "Pro-anorexia, weight-loss, and the Internet: an 'anti-recovery' explanatory model of anorexia" Sociology of Health and Illness 27 (7): 944-971.

18) Sobal, Jeffery (1999) “The Size Acceptance Movement and the Social Construction of Body Weight” pp. 231-249 In Sobal, J. and Maurer D. (eds.) Weighty Issues: fatness and Thinness as Social Problems. New York: Aldinede Gruyter.

19) Showalter Elaine (1997) "Recovered Memory", pp. 155-158 In her Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.

Saguy, Abigail (2012) What's Wrong With Fat? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Saguy, Abigail C. and Riley, W. Kevin (2005) "Weighing Both Sides: Morality, Mortality, and Framing Contests over Obesity" Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. 30(5): 869-915.

Additional Reading Material:
Canguilhem, Georges. 1978. On the Normal and The Pathological. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing.


Hier Sean, P. (2008) "Thinking Beyond Moral Panic: Risk, Responsibility, and the Politics of Moralization" Theoretical Criminology 12(2): 173-190.


Fee, Dweight (2000) “The Broken Dialogue: Mental Illness as Discourse and Experience” PP. 1-17 In Fee, D. (ed.) Pathology and the Postmodern: Mental Illness as Discourse and Experience. London: Sage
DSM. 1994. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.


(11) Carmele, Jill, A. and Anderson, Kristin, A. (2001) "Defining Normal: Constructions of Race and Gender in the DSM-IV Casebook" Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 11, No. 2, 229-247


Epstein Steven (2004) "Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: the Politics of Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States" Body & Society, Vol. 10, No. 2-3, 183-203.

הירש, דפנה (2007) "'הזרמת דם חדש אך פעולת הבראה וחזוק לה': רופאים ציוניים ונישואי התערובת" בתוך שנהב יהודה ויונה יוסי (עורכים) גזענות בישראל . ירושלים ות"א: ואן ליר הקיבוץ המאוחד.


Watters, Ethan (2008) Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of American Psyche. New York: Free Press.

גורדון, ריצ'ארד (1991) אנורקסיה ובולימיה: אנטומיה של מגיפה חברתית. ת"א: אח. "המימדים החברתיים של מגיפה", עמ' 42-70 .
גולדין סיגל 2002)) "אנורקסיה בישראל או אנורקסיה ישראלית? כמה הערות על סינדרום-תלוי-תרבות בהקשר גלוקאלי" סוציולוגיה ישראלית ד(1): 105-141.

Pike Katheleen and Borovoy Amy (2006) "The Rise of Eating Disorders in Japan: Issues of Culture and Limitations of the Model of 'Westernization"

Grading Scheme :
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Home Exam / Referat 70 %
Presentation / Poster Presentation / Lecture/ Seminar / Pro-seminar / Research proposal 10 %
Submission assignments during the semester: Exercises / Essays / Audits / Reports / Forum / Simulation / others 20 %

Additional information:
N/A