Anthropology: Global Health Devel & Diversit

An anthropological exploration of connections between global health, economic development, and cultural diversity in contemporary times. Considers ways in which informed global citizens can make a positive difference in human health, taking socioeconomic and cultural diversity into account. Cross-listed with: HSOC 1700.

Cross listed with HSOC 1700; Total combined enrollment = 140; Open to degree and PACE students

ANTH 1190/HSOC 1700 (was ANTH 089/HSOC 089): Global Health, Development, and Diversity: How does the global health of human populations today relate to socioeconomic development and cultural diversity and their various dimensions? In many ways, socioeconomic development over the past century has contributed substantially to global human health, but in other ways, such as industrial pollution, it has served as a deterrent to that very goal, especially for groups with fewer economic resources. Likewise, diverse cultural factors have served as both a great resource for public health and human healing, but also as major health threats, as in cultural habits such as smoking and inequitable resource distribution. While the World Health Organization has been striving through its Millennium Development Goals and more recent Sustainable Development Goals to chart a common course for improving human health worldwide, the path is still far from clear. The question remains as to which global health models have wide applicability across different economic and cultural settings, and which problems require much more localized solutions. In addition, global health means and ends are often defined and prioritized differently across different economic echelons and diverse cultural groups. How can we as global citizens accurately understand, adequately represent, and effectively intervene to make a positive difference in grasping the wicked problems and promising opportunities that define our current era? This social science course has counted as a D2 and and SU course, and under the new gen ed requirements, it will count toward the D2 (diversity 2) and GC1 (global citizenship) requirements and SU (sustainability). It is a key course in the Health and Society major and minor and in the Anthropology of Global Health Major Concentration and the Global Health Focus track in the Anthropology Major and Minor.

In this course, we tackle these questions head-on with a mixture of cutting-edge readings, thought-provoking course lectures, immersive documentary films, and meaningful student work, involving class discussions, analytical essays, and quizzes to cultivate understanding, and student semester projects. Student semester projects will involve a written analysis and oral presentation on a human public health problem within a local low or middle income country context, together with related economic and cultural factors, including an assessment of a global health intervention for that problem in that same local context. The goal of the course is to make us more informed global citizens with the tools to make a positive difference in global human health, taking socioeconomic and cultural diversity into account. Students should expect to spend an average of 9 hours per week outside of class meetings doing reading and coursework. There are two required books Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains (ISBN 0-8129-8055-7) and Lasker's Hoping to Help (ISBN 1-5017-0010-3). Students also need the IClicker for attendance and participation; whether they will need the APP or the Handheld will depend on whether or not we are assigned a high-density wifi classroom that can accommodate the APP (https://www.uvm.edu/it/kb/article/iclicker-cloud/).

Class attendance and participation, analytical essays, quizzes, and student semester projects