This course critically explores the intersection of medical anthropology, public health, clinical medicine, and local beliefs and practices in emerging regimes of global health. Drawing primarily on ethnographic case studies, the class considers how practices, technologies, and institutions of biomedicine engage established and emerging local ones. In particular, students will examine how inequalities of social power influence the circulation of biomedicine, the practice of humanitarian care, and the experience of health, illness and healing. A core focus is to evaluate the complex impacts and outcomes of medical and public health interventions.
Prerequisites
Sophomore standing or above