NOTE: The material included below is not the complete syllabus. For the complete syllabus, please click on the folder labeled "Syllabus" under the "Files" tab to the left.
Learn about the roots of the modern global health movement and the origins of current responses to the COVID-19 disease crisis by examining how governments, organizations, and people intervened in medicine and public health in the past.
A helpful article about this course may be found here.
Course Description
This course traces the history and politics of overseas interventions in medicine and public health from the pre-modern period to the present COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it reconstructs the historical origins of the modern global health movement, highlighting the movement's roots in practices of colonialism and empire-building, the rise of international commerce and industrial capitalism, the development of international philanthropy, and efforts to secure and protect national borders during epidemics and other public health and humanitarian crises. As a class, we will ask whether relationships forged through colonialism continue to structure international medical interventions and the interactions of foreign health professionals, local experts, and patients in the modern global south. We will also examine the ideologies, institutions, ethics, and practices of international health during much of the twentieth century, questioning to what extent the more recent global health movement represents a new and distinct approach. Finally, we will study how patients, communities, healers, and government officials in the global south have experienced, supported, and resisted international medical interventions in the past. By studying this history both from the top down and the bottom up, we will develop a clear understanding of how the past informs the present in the contemporary global health movement, shaping both its achievements and its limitations. We will also consider how a historical approach may help experts address complex political and ethical concerns within the global health movement.
Assignments and Grade Breakdown for the Course:
Paper 1 20%
Paper 2 20%
Final Exam 20%
Weekly Reflections 30%
Participation 10%
PLEASE NOTE: You must complete and pass all assignments in order to pass the course.
Outline of Assignments:
Papers—You will write two, 4-5 page papers in this course. These will serve as exercises in historical writing, analysis, and interpretation based on primary sources. The first paper will focus on the documents included in Lane’s Pandemic in Potosí, connecting them to the broader themes from the first half of the course as well as John Hatcher’s The Black Death: A Personal History. The second paper will analyze one or more of the documentaries that we will view in the second half of the course, connecting them to course themes and to Nancy Leys Stepan’s Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever. More information about these assignments will be forthcoming.
Final Exam--The final in this course will not look like a traditional, closed-book, timed final exam. Rather, it will be a position paper in which you will draw on lectures and materials from throughout the course to make an argument about how the global health movement should be structured, and how it should go about improving the lives of others. In other words, it is an opportunity for you to reflect on what you have learned in the course, demonstrate your knowledge, and apply this knowledge of the past to urgent questions about the present and future. More instructions will be forthcoming. If you view lectures consistently, participate in discussions, and keep up with the readings and online activities, you should do fine.
Weekly Reflections—In addition to completing the assigned readings and viewing lectures, you will be asked each week to explore a series of resources available online. These include documentaries, films, online museum exhibitions, and collections of primary sources created by historical actors themselves. Each Saturday you will be required to submit by 11:59 p.m. a minimum 250-word (one-page, double-spaced) reflection on that week’s online resources. Your reflections need not be examples of highly polished, formal writing, but you should put considerable thought into them. In these reflections I am most interested in seeing how you would relate the materials to the broader themes of the course, the lectures, and the readings. Please convey to me how you would connect these dots and what you have learned from these activities. A preliminary list of these resources is included in this syllabus; definitive instructions will be made available in the Canvas modules.
Participation—You will be graded on your participation in our synchronous discussion sessions. It is important that students contribute to discussions, as you will learn a great deal from each other. Please do not feel shy about speaking. For those who are nervous about speaking up, please remember that while thoughtful, brilliant, insightful comments are certainly appreciated, they are neither required nor expected. You can contribute just as much by asking a question or seeking clarification. Chances are that if there’s something you don’t understand, other students in class are confused as well. If you are unable to attend discussion sections for any reason, you will be able to make up that work by viewing the recorded session and posting a discussion post with your contribution.