Global Health: Anthropological Perspectives

In some parts of the world, spending on healthcare is astronomical. In others, people struggle to survive amid new and longstanding threats to health and have little or no access to basic or life-saving therapies.  Efforts to address the complex roots of physical, mental, and social suffering that disproportionately affect the world’s poor remain under-researched and under-funded, and global health disparities are increasing. This graduate seminar is structured around case materials from around the world, which demonstrate how globalizing cultural, political, economic, and technological forces shape how people experience illness.  As we analyze cases and gain familiarity with ethnographic methods, we will ask how more effective interventions can be formulated. The course draws from ethnographic, historical, and medical writings and videos as well as theoretical and ethical analyses.  It familiarizes students with advanced perspectives on critical issues in global health and their relationship to local economies of care.