Anthropology of Global Health SOCIO5094

  • Academic Session: 2023-24
  • School: School of Social and Political Sciences
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 1
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes

Short Description

Global health is a term that often gets used without us thinking about what it actually means. Global health as a practice in the international stage means one thing, but is this the same to thinking about health globally, in terms of people's lived experiences with health? This course will provide a basis for building a new understanding of health and global health. Using an anthropological lens we will look at several key aspects of global health, as an international practice and as a landscape to understand health experiences of diverse people across the globe. This course will include lectures, readings, and practical exercises to explore the topic of "Global Health". We present health as a component of social justice, as inter-relational and culturally based, as something to theorize and as something to practice.

Timetable

None

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Essay (80% total, 3,500 words). This will be on a research topic of interest to students but which incorporate one or more themes from the various course components.

 

"Discussion leadership" (20% of grade/ of which 10% is peer review)-students will lead seminar discussions in groups. Groups will come up with discussion questions related to week's reading materials, they will be asked to bring in real world examples based readings that week. (e.g. course has 27 students, 3 people per team over course of 9 weeks, excluding first week). Assessment will include of presentation itself and original materials incorporated, discussion leading, and pre-prepared questions. Peer assessment will include from other members of the group and the class as a whole, with a rubric provided for guidance on offering positive but critical feedback.

Course Aims

1. Introduce a new understanding and new perspectives on the topic of global health.

2. Introduce anthropological contexts and theories to explore key aspects of the international landscape of global health and what it means to the real life and lived experiences of people across the globe.

3. Explore health as a critical component of social justice, as inter-relational and culturally based, and as something to theorize as well as to practice.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Interpret global health from an anthropological perspective;

2. Critically evaluate global health challenges and the solutions used to solve them;

3. Demonstrate how global politics, power structures, and funding impacts global health agendas;

4. Explain and compare cross-cultural experiences of 'global health' and how people differentially experience health and illness in their everyday lives.

5. Propose, design, and implement independent research on a topic of interest to them;

6. Employ group work to interpret and discuss course related materials.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.