| Because of diagnosis of illness, the manufacture of medicines, and the prevention of disease were recognized as essential knowledge for housewives and mothers, many early modern women provided health care within the household. Others became professional, if usually unlicensed, physicians. This course will investigate how these textual and medical practices infiltrated literary forms undertaken by women – autobiography, poetry, drama, the familiar letter and travel writing – and examine how religion, social relationships, and politics inform women’s medical knowledge. Beginning with an analysis of the current feminist critique of medical culture, as well historical study of early modern medicine, topics addressed will include pregnancy and childbirth, natural philosophy. |
