Gender and Health

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course examines the intersection of gender, health policy, and health care around the world, by using an integrative anthropological approach. Gender is frequently a central contributing (though sometimes ignored) factor to people’s health. People across the gender spectrum experience their biological and social lives (social, economic, political, and biological) in unique ways, and all of these can shape their health. What causes different genders to experience different illnesses? What factors place some genders at greater risk for illness than others? How do different genders across the world experience health policies? Are they affected and constrained by similar factors? How do their work lives affect their experiences with health? How has risk changed through time? How is the body medically produced? How do poverty, race, and discrimination play a role in people’s gendered well-being? Through an inquiry-based approach, and through readings from across the sub-disciplines of anthropology, these and other topics will be addressed in this class. In this writing-intensive course you will work on a research project, you will learn to write your results and analysis, and you will receive feedback on your writing in order to understand the iterative nature of good writing.