Global Health: Inequality, Culture, and Human Well Being Around the World

Course Description

This course examines human health in a global perspective. Using ideas and methods from anthropology, students will explore how inequality and culture intersect to produce the world’s predominant health problems. Further, students will look critically at efforts to address the global burden of disease, using multiple case studies to help them develop more politically and culturally constructive solutions.

This course explores the field of global health, and particularly the serious health problems facing populations in developing countries. Students will examine issues in contemporary international public health utilizing the theories, concepts, and methods of anthropology. Readings will cover a range of anthropological perspectives, health problems, and cultural contexts. The overall purpose of the course is to expand students' awareness and understanding of the political, socioeconomic, and cultural dimensions of health problems in poor nations, and the consequent complexity of developing effective long-term solutions. In addition, attention will be paid to the ways in which health-related beliefs and behaviors and society's responses to health problems provide a window onto broader social and cultural processes.

By the end of this course students will have a clear understanding of the burden of disease from a global perspective. They will learn to think critically about the political, social, and cultural roots of these health problems. They will learn basic theories, concepts, and methods in anthropology. Finally, they will learn to apply these critical perspectives to develop more effective solutions.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course. Students with interests in medicine, public health, the importance of culture, and global problems of poverty and development would find the course of interest.