Future Bodies: Medicine, Culture, and Technology

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Grace Halden
• Assessment: a 5000-word critical essay, or 4000-word piece of non-fiction creative writing and 1000-word critical reflection (100%)

In this module we explore the future of medicine, the body and technology through the lens of medical humanities. Engaging with literature, visual culture, philosophy and ethical debates, we examine how evolving medical advancements - such as AI, bioengineering and cyborg technologies - are reshaping our understanding of what it means to be human and what it means to have organic bodies. Rather than seeking definitive answers, we critically analyse key texts to explore how medicine and culture negotiate identity, agency and the boundaries of the human in the twenty-first century. 

Indicative syllabus

• Bodies and augmentation 
• Bodies and speculative reproduction  
• Bodies, people and communication 
• Bodies and surveillance
• Bodies and life extension  
• Bodies and transplantation
• Bodies and pain
• Bodies and neuromodification 
• Bodies and stigma

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• critically analyse literary, visual and philosophical texts to understand how medical advancements shape cultural and ethical debates about the human body
• evaluate the implications of emerging technologies - such as AI, bioengineering and cyborg enhancements - on identity, agency and the boundaries of the human experience
• examine the intersection of medicine and culture in negotiating issues of power and the body in contemporary society
• investigate how speculative and real-world medical advancements influence perceptions of pain, stigma and dehumanisation in different sociocultural contexts
• develop interdisciplinary perspectives on the future of medicine by engaging with ethical, philosophical and artistic representations of bodily modification.