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Overview of the Pilot Curriculum General Education Requirement
Current Pilot Curriculum General Requirement Course Descriptions
This course fulfills Category II of the General Education Requirement.
Faculty:
|
David
Barnes |
Meeting Times:
| LEC | HSOC 010 401 | T & R | 10:30 - 12:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 402 | F | 9:00 - 10:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 403 | F | 10:00 - 11:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 404 | F | 10:00 - 11:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 405 | F | 11:00 - 12:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 406 | F | 2:00 - 3:00 |
| REC | HSOC 010 407 | F | 2:00 - 3:00 |
Course
Description:
When changes
in sexual practices result in an increase in sexually transmitted diseases,
or when the proliferation of fast-food outlets
triggers an epidemic of obesity, it is obvious that society has affected
health. The deeper layers of the complex relationship between what
we call "health" and what we call "society," however,
are not always self-evident.
Is it possible that everything we know, say, and do about our bodies
and our health is—and always has been—the product of specific
social relations? Indeed, if one looks beneath the surface, cutting-edge
genetic research at Penn’s DNA Sequencing Center is every bit
as socially determined as are the therapeutic practices of a Navajo
shaman. Western technological biomedicine is only one among many elaborate
and comprehensive systems for understanding and improving health in
the world today; it has, however, proven uniquely durable and powerful
on a global scale. Similarly, today’s diverse health landscape
is the product of centuries of history, throughout which various systems
of knowledge and practice clashed, competed, and interpenetrated.
Grasping the deeper “socialness” of health and health care
in a variety of cultures and time periods requires a sustained interdisciplinary
approach. Health and Societies: Global Perspectives blends the methods
of history, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, and bioethics in
order to expose the layers of meaning beneath what we often see as
straightforward, common-sense responses to natural phenomena. Assignments
throughout the semester provide a hands-on introduction to research
strategies in these core disciplines. In addition to this research
experience, students will acquire a basic familiarity with the central
problems and methods of medical sociology, medical anthropology, and
the history of medicine. The course culminates with pragmatic, student-led
assessments of global health policies designed to identify creative
and cost-effective solutions to the most persistent health problems
in the world today.
Students must register for both the lecture and a recitation.
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