MDHM 310: PAIN
Fall 2026 · Section 001 · CRN 15892
If two people say “ouch” at the same time, are they feeling the same thing? In this course, we will consider this question, among others, in the context of a larger examination of pain as a topic in art, an embodied experience, and a medical phenomenon. We will study the history of representations of pain, the complex renderings of pain in art, the way pain is observed and measured in contemporary medicine, and the challenges of representing different “kinds” of pain. In doing so, we will develop a complex understanding of what Susan Sontag called our “more onerous citizenship” in the “kingdom of the sick” and collectively propose new ways of understanding pain. This course counts towards the electives requirement for the MDHM minor. Repeatable for Credit.
- Credits
- 3
- Instructors
- Katherine Shwetz