Off-Campus Extended Studies Courses

This is a seminar style course that examines the intersections between the interrelated perspectives in public health, international health, and global health from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Our attention will be on the relationship between Western and non‐Western forms of scientific practice and health systems as they have emerged in the African continent and Diaspora . Specifically this course will examine the role of health and medicine in mediating the relationships between metropolis and colony, state and citizen, North and South, public welfare and private interest, research practices and human subjects, the commodification of health and the body, and human rights discourse throughout Africa and the Diaspora. The course will be divided chronologically into four parts, tracing imperial health formation formations in the late 19th century, the nascent internationalism of the interwar period, the construction of bureaucracies of development in the postwar and postcolonial era, and contemporary configurations of public and private interests in the new global health of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In addition to garnering an understanding of the background and politics/policies of public health in Africa, students will become familiar with how to conduct a "hands-on" needs assessment of a particular cultural group in the continent. Students in this class will acquire knowledge of the history and practice of public health in Africa and the Diaspora through a wide range of readings from multidisciplinary and anthropological sources. Students will acquire the practical skills necessary to evaluate contemporary public health issues in an African context utilizing skills in Community Needs Assessment practice. Students will work collaboratively to produce a Needs Assessment document for a community that will be shared with those in the continent and who are actively working in public health. There are no pre-requisites at present for this course although some prior coursework in Anthropology, Global Health and/or Biology is encouraged.