ESPM 162A
Health, Medicine, Society and Environment
Introduces students to intersections between health, medicine, society, and environment through medical and environmental anthropology, political ecology, medical geography, and the social studies of science, technology and the natural environment. Readings, discussions, and assignments will explore the sociocultural, political economic, and environmental aspects of illness, care, disease, biomedicine, and health (in)equity.
Topics
- This course will provide an overview of key theoretical and methodological approaches as well as central arguments to understand the relationships between health, medicine, society and environment. The course will lend context and highlight concepts that are important to understandings of and movements toward social and health equity.
- Critically assess social and health issues appearing in scholarly publications and the popular press;, Practice communicating ideas and analyses in language that can be generally understood;, Work with classmates from multiple disciplines and backgrounds in order to realize the importance of multidisciplinary approaches for solving social and health inequities;, Apply sociocultural, political economic, and critical theory frameworks for understanding conflicts in the realms of public health, global health, medicine, and public policy., Demonstrate knowledge in major areas of health and society in relation to current debates in medical anthropology and cognate social sciences;, Engage with increasingly popular subfields of the medical social sciences including those on issues of health inequities, care, medical science, sickness, anguish, and resistance.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027