Global Health Course Atlas | Fall 2009
GHCS 102-000: Introduction to Global Health
MWF 10:40-11:30 Max: 100 Hadley
Content: This introductory lecture-based course draws on perspectives from anthropology, social epidemiology, and related social and health sciences to provide the broadest framework for understanding current global health challenges and their solutions. Over the semester, we will learn about past, current and future global health issues. And, we will explore diverse theoretical perspectives as to why some people and populations are healthier than others. The course will emphasize the interconnections between health problems in developed and developing countries and the need for an interdisciplinary approach to understand and mitigate threats to health. Students will be introduced to basic concepts and methods in epidemiology and population health. The ultimate goal of the course is for students to gain an evidence-based understanding of the threats to human health and interventions that may counter these threats. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of population demography. At the end of the course students should have a basic understanding of the methods used to assess population health, understand the current and future distribution of health, and be able to discuss why some populations are healthier than others and what can be done to reduce heath disparities. Specific topics to be covered include infectious diseases, diseases of under and over nutrition, mental health, reproductive health, refugee and immigrant health, and human rights.
Texts:
Collier, P. (2007). The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Dettwyler, K. A. (1994). Dancing Skeletons: Life and death in West Africa. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland.
Devereux, S., Vautla, B., and S. Swan. Seasons of Hunger: Fighting cycles of quiet starvation among the world’s rural poor. Pluto Press.
Plus additional weekly readings posted on Blackboard
Particulars: This course will be approved as ANT 385 Special Topics for Anthropology Majors and Minors.
GHCS 300R-000: Global Health: Biosocial Model [ANT 338]
TTH 4:00-5:15 MAX: 12 [ANT 338]/ 6 [GHCS 300] Worthman
Content: This course surveys the global landscape of challenges to physical and mental health that confront us today, and traces the emergence of biosocial approaches to both explaining and tackling these challenges. A major goal for the class is to develop student skills for navigating the current global health situation in the light of theory and practice in public health and biomedicine, as well as global economics, ecology, and resource availability. To accomplish these aims we will cover five recent insights and emerging dynamics in global health, and critically apply them in a series of case studies. Class assignments will take the form of exercises for which students will consult, evaluate, and integrate multiple information resources to assess the state of our knowledge and write reports and analyses. Information resources specialists will contribute training and guidance throughout the course.
Particulars: Prerequisite – Anthropology 230 or 332. Exams – none. Papers – Seven case study analyses, ranging from 2-6 pp.
GHCS 300-001: Core Issues in Global Health: Social Ethical Perspectives
TTH 10:00-11:15 Max: 18 Braley
Content: This junior/senior seminar is a core capstone course for the Global Health, Culture and Society Minor. This course will introduce students to various modes of moral discourse for interpreting the complex social and ethical challenges practitioners and policymakers face in understanding and responding to global health challenges. The emphasis in the course is on developing a method appropriate for “doing ethics” at the intersection of economics, politics, science, and culture. For example, how do the global economy, political leadership, and cultural practices impact access to “decent care” for persons living with HIV and AIDS? To get at this kind of question, students will each select a contemporary global health issue (e.g., HIV/AIDS) as a lens through which empirical evidence (e.g., “what is going on?”) and moral claims (e.g., “what ought to be going on?”) can be interpreted and evaluated. This course will be both reading- and writing-intensive.
Texts:TBA
Particulars: TBA
GHCS 300R-002: Cultural Disparities and Health in South Asia
TTH 2:30-3:45 Max: 18 Midha
Content: This mid- to upper-level undergraduate course highlights the sociocultural perspective on fundamentals of health disparities in South Asia particularly in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. It considers a variety of health issues, knowledge, and cultural practices regarding health among South Asians. Using an anthropological perspective, the course provides an overview of and underlying causes of disparities in health care access, resources, treatment and outcomes of health status of ethnically diverse populations living in these areas. We will examine how age, gender, socioeconomic position, predisposition to disease or genetic factors, and geographic area of residence contribute to the health status of individuals. We will also explore how the interrelationships between cultural norms and social institutions, risk factors, local perceptions, beliefs, rituals and forces of globalization influence health seeking behavior among the South Asians, as each of these affect our local worlds in a global village. This course will be both reading- and writing-intensive.
Texts: Selected Journal Articles and Readings from
Justice, J. Policies, Plans and Peoples
Arole & Arole, Jamkhed
Rushdie, Deb, Desai, et al., AIDS SUTRA Untold Stories from India
Satcher & Pamies Multicultural Medicine and Health Disparities
GHCS 300R-003/ANT 385: Birth and Global Health
TTH 4:00-5:15 MAX 10 [GHCS 300]/10 [ANT 385] Foster
Content: Birth is a universal event, but how it is experienced by women varies greatly. In this seminar we will examine birth in the context of global health. First, we will explore the meanings of pregnancy and themes of joy, fear, and pain in childbirth, in different times and cultural contexts. Then we will frame birth as the lens through which we discuss urgent issues in contemporary global health, such as reproductive health, rights, equity, access, and quality of healthcare. We will also explore the work of nurses and midwives who attend birth, in both previous and contemporary historical periods.
Texts: TBA
Particulars: TBA