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74596-01 - Research seminar: God or Chemistry? Faith and Medicine in the History of Africa and Beyond (4 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Julia Tischler (julia.tischler@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The research seminar focusses on the intersection of what is commonly referred to “faith”/”religion” and “medicine” by tracing the construction of these categories through time and space. We will interrogate into African notions of healing and harming in a long-term perspective, and examine the ways in which these interacted with other traditions of health. With the help of primary sources, we will discuss the role of missionary medicine, which, in the late 19th century, was caught between faith-based traditions and the bacteriological revolution. In addition, we will discuss the impact of biomedical approaches, focussing on local contestations and appropriations. Examples will be taken from different African contexts, while we will also consider medical and religious traditions from European contexts. Students will engage in historicizing the separation of “medicine” and “faith” as distinct and (partly) incommensurable spheres. We also seek to critically assess the construction of medical problems and the ways in which the “solutions” proposed to solve these problems were embedded in asymmetrical power dynamics. A methodological focus will be placed on working with missionary and colonial written sources as well as the intersections of historical and ethnographic approaches. In addition, we will work with material culture and its potential as historical (re)sources. Students will gain insights into ongoing PhD and MA projects. Moreover, we will collaborate with the Museum der Kulturen (Museum of Cultures) to look into the meaning of selected medical/religious objects. In terms of practical exercises, all students will write an outline for a seminar paper or MA thesis over the course of the semester. Students need not have any prior experience in African History! |
| Bibliography | Ratschiller Nasim, Linda. Medical Missionaries and Colonial Knowledge in West Africa and Europe, 1885-1914. New York: Palgrave, 2023. Mohr, Adam. “Missionary medicine and Akan therapeutics: Illness, health and healing in southern Ghana’s Basel Mission, 1828-1918.” Journal of Religion in Africa, 39(4) (2009), 429-461. Langwick, Stacey, "Properties of (Dis)Possession: Therapeutic Plants, Intellectual Property, and Questions of Justice in Tanzania," Osiris 36 (2021), 284-305. Vaughan, Meghan. Curing Their Ills. Colonial Power and African Illness. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. |
| Comments | The research seminars are designed as a teaching format exclusively for Master's students of History and related programmes (African Studies, Global European Studies). Compared to seminars, they offer more space and time for research-related learning. At the same time, they place higher demands on independent research, processing of theoretically demanding research literature and working with sources. Research seminars can serve as a basis for writing seminar papers and often also for preparing a Master's thesis. |
| Admission requirements | Students need not have any prior experience in African History. Studierende der Masterstudienfächer Geschichte und Osteuropäische Geschichte und des Masterstudiengangs Europäische Geschichte in globaler Perspektive sowie Global European Studies und African Studies. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 17.02.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 24.02.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 03.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 10.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Fasnachstferien |
| Monday 17.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 24.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 31.03.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 07.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 14.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 21.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Ostern |
| Monday 28.04.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 05.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 12.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 19.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 26.05.2025 | 14.15-16.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History) Module: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Fields: Public Health and Social Life (Master's degree program: African Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Aktive Teilnahme. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |