ANTH 215 A: Introduction to Medical Anthropology and Global Health

Spring 2025
Meeting:
TTh 10:30am - 12:20pm / PCAR 192
SLN:
10294
Section Type:
Lecture
Instructor:
COUNTS TOWARD MAGH
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

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Course description

This course is an introduction to medical anthropology and global health. It is not designed as a survey class, rather, we explore recent work in anthropology and related fields to learn about the interrelationships of bodies, knowledges, infrastructures, and environments in shaping health and disease. How does medicine, as an authoritative mode of knowledge and practice, shape what it is to have a body, to be healthy or not, to be human? How is the openness of the body to environmental, biological, and social harms--war, chemicals, terror, absence of health care--a political question? Why is infrastructure important to health care? We will address these questions together as we engage academic texts, web-based scholarship, and audiovisual media about the U.S., Guatemala, Egypt, and Iraq, among other sites.

 

The learning outcomes of this course are:

- describe ways that medical knowledge and practice shapes what it is to have a body, to be healthy or not, to be human

- analyze how health and medical practices are shaped by (and also shape) political, economic, and cultural life

  • demonstrate understanding of what ethnography is as both a method and a product (book, audiovisual media)

Course format

This course meets in-person. There are two lectures and one discussion section per week. Contributions to lectures and discussions are part of your grade. Lectures are not recorded but Professor Grant will upload lecture slides to the Canvas site each week.

Required books

  1. Yates, Doerr, Emily. 2024. Mal-Nutrition: Maternal health science and the reproduction of harm. University of California Press.
  2. Hamdy, Sherine and Coleman Nye. 2017. Lissa: A story about medical promise, friendship, and revolution. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

 

Articles and audiovisual materials will be available through Canvas.

 

Requirements

Discussion posts on Canvas (40%)

Short paper (25%)

Visual essay (25%)

Contributions to lecture and section (10%)

Catalog Description:
Explores influences of global processes on health of U.S. and other societies from a social-justice perspective. Emphasizes inter-relationships between cultural, environmental, social-economic, political, and medical systems that contribute to health status, outcomes, policies, and healthcare delivery. Focuses on health disparities within and between societies and communities around the world.
Department Requirements Met:
Medical Anthropology & Global Health Option
GE Requirements Met:
Diversity (DIV)
Social Sciences (SSc)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
March 28, 2025 - 3:37 pm