# Introduction to Medical Humanities

- Institution: IIT Patna
- Department: Humanities and Social Sciences
- Teacher: Prof. Priyanka Tripathi
- Level: Undergraduate
- Language: English
- Subjects: Society and politics
- Source: [NPTEL](https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109104001)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-SA](https://nptel.ac.in/faq) (Non-commercial use only.)
- Syllabus: [at the source](https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109104001)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

For centuries, love, war, and ego have shaped literature and culture; however, illness or recuperating from illness has only recently received the same amount of cultural depth. As an introductory course to medical humanities, it will focus on critical pathways for thinking about health and medicine, including questions of care and ethics. The course, at its beginning, will engage with key theoretical texts from the field and then will shift to focus on the contemporary Indian context. By bringing into analysis case studies, texts, films, and policies, it aims to build an understanding of medical authority and stigma, especially around mental illness, menstruation, disability, HIV/AIDS, and pandemics. In examining how illness, bodies, and care are shaped and, in turn, shape society, culture, law, and inequality, the course will ask what medicine can do and understand its perceived limits.

Intended audience: Students from English language and Literature, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Gender Studies, Literary Studies, Medical and Nursing, Pharma, Sociology, Medical Anthropology, Science and Technology Studies

## Lectures

1. [Lecture 1: Introduction to the course](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/3b23d80de958) (YouTube)
2. [Lecture 2 : Defining Medical Humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/360da0d4ced2) (YouTube)
3. [Lecture 3 : Basic concepts to understand Medical Humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/d31deb873fce) (YouTube)
4. [Lecture 4 : Key theorists in Medical Humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/26c9ab319365) (YouTube)
5. [Lecture 5 : Why and how do Medical Humanities matter in India?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/569c653ceccb) (YouTube)
6. [Lecture 6: World contexts: Global Health and its Implications on Culture, Society, and Inequalitiess](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/82ffba4fdca8) (YouTube)
7. [Lecture 7: Colonial medicine, indigenous healing, and modern healthcare systems in India](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/a621066cb51e) (YouTube)
8. [Lecture 8: Illness and its metaphors in India](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/bb5304cbb8d0) (YouTube)
9. [Lecture 9: Major signposts of Medical Humanities in India](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/aa90b010b540) (YouTube)
10. [Lecture 10: COVID-19 as a Turning Point in Medical Humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/626d27ce3fec) (YouTube)
11. [Lecture 11: Analyzing data and its implications in Indian narratives: Methods and methodology](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/ec5607570efe) (YouTube)
12. [Lecture 12: Reproductive justice and its threads](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/640985c844cc) (YouTube)
13. [Lecture 13: Deconstructing (dis)ableism](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/df1529f6b769) (YouTube)
14. [Lecture 14: Mental health: Illness/Disease debate](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/027e500238c3) (YouTube)
15. [Lecture 15: Trauma narratives: memory and resilience](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/9b15148a121c) (YouTube)
16. [Lecture 16: Menstruation, culture, and stigma in Indian society](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/6f0e5699b28b) (YouTube)
17. [Lecture 17: Abortion narratives in India](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/5f8602680721) (YouTube)
18. [Lecture 18: Understanding surrogacy and its politics (Part-1)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/3724a8b70dc8) (YouTube)
19. [Lecture 19: Understanding surrogacy and its politics (Part-2)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/44545aae834f) (YouTube)
20. [Lecture 20: Artificial reproductive technology and the trauma of infertility](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/2b79df2f100b) (YouTube)
21. [Lecture 21: Childhood, Disability, And Dignity: From Taare Zameen Par \[2007\] to Sitare Zameen Par \[2025\]](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/af13961888f4) (YouTube)
22. [Lecture 22: Interplay of disability and masculinity in Guzaarish](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/1cfe754f3949) (YouTube)
23. [Lecture 23: Media representations of dis/ability in sports](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/a90403e51eb4) (YouTube)
24. [Lecture 24: Living with Chronic Illness as Disability](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/670df0421ca5) (YouTube)
25. [Lecture 25: Ageing-into Disability](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/a46adfad5d11) (YouTube)
26. [Lecture 26: The politics of going mad](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/30a18dd8d0e0) (YouTube)
27. [Lecture 27: The mad woman trope](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/e875fafba84c) (YouTube)
28. [Lecture 28: Staging Distress: Mental Health Crisis in Contemporary Hindi Films](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/553611dd62f9) (YouTube)
29. [Lecture 29: Familial Neglect and Late-Life Mental Health Challenges](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/ddaccbe4d68f) (YouTube)
30. [Lecture 30: ‘Robbed out of Mind’](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/664fa5e77057) (YouTube)
31. [Lecture 31: The care crisis in Indian narratives](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/cd6736c9b312) (YouTube)
32. [Lecture 32: Trusting doctors and empathizing with patients](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/387e14601001) (YouTube)
33. [Lecture 33: Destigmatizing HIV/AIDs through Hindi cinema](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/7f5c067cb562) (YouTube)
34. [Lecture 34: Witnessing epidemics through fiction](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/ef1b1057da6d) (YouTube)
35. [Lecture 35: Creating comics in the age of post-infection India](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/803c5876ae8c) (YouTube)
36. [Lecture 36: Humanizing the medical discourse](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/3a0dba6888c6) (YouTube)
37. [Lecture 37:Biomedical ethics and cultural intersections](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/39e1a3bc50bc) (YouTube)
38. [Lecture 38:Integrating AI into medical humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/82ed8e62f4da) (YouTube)
39. [Lecture 39: Future scope of medical humanities](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/745c63aac238) (YouTube)
40. [Lecture 40: Highlights of the course](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/nptel/109104001/ea1b728f1db9) (YouTube)