Syllabus Health Disease Culture SCU Fall 2019 (1) Essays - Education

Health , Disease, and Culture Anthropology 134 - Santa Clara University - Fall 2019 Instructor: Samantha L. Grace, [emailprotected] Class Meets: Mondays 2:15-5:15 in O'Connor 206 Office Hours: Mondays 1:00-2:00 in O'Connor 329 Course Description This course uses the methods and theory of medical anthropology to examine the relationships between health, disease, and culture. Through reading, autoethnography, and independent research, we will analyze biomedicine as a cultural system in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts. We will read ethnographic texts as well as materials from public health, medicine, and international development and investigate how contexts shape the meaning and impact of biomedical interventions. This course will explore how both contemporary and historical political contexts have shaped health and disease at the intersections of region, religion, economics, race and ethnicity, and gender. By the end of this course, students will develop their own arguments about important concerns in cross-cultural health. Course Objectives C ompare and contrast the cultural and economic factors that shape illness and their effects on diverse groups of people U nderstand cross-cultural variation in explanatory models of illness R elate your own illness experience to course readings describing social and cultural factors that shape illness SCU Core Curriculum Goals and Objectives: 1.1 Recognize and articulate the complexity of the relationship between science and/or technology and society. 1.2 Comprehend the relevant science and/or technology and explain how science and/or technology advance through the process of inquiry and experiment. 1.3 Analyze and evaluate the social impact of science and/or technology and how science and/or technology are themselves impacted by the needs and demands of society. Content Warnings If it would be helpful for you to know ahead of time about certain themes before you encounter them in the course materials (for example, sexual or racial violence), please let me know and I will try to announce the content warnings you need in the class before they are due. Assistive Software If you use assistive software for accessing course materials (for example, software that reads text aloud), please let me know what you're using so I can ensure course materials are formatted appropriately. Other accommodations I encourage all students to make use of any resources relevant to them through Santa Clara's Office of Accessible Education (Benson 1). You can drop in for a short appointment or make a longer one by calling 408-554-4109. Learn more here: https://www.scu.edu/oae/ . In addition to SCU's accessibility infrastructure, I am personally invested in making sure that variation in student experience and background does not create barriers to learning in my class. I encourage all students to reach out to me personally to let me know what barriers and constraints you are negotiating this semester. Grad ing 100 point scale ( 1% of your final grade = 1 point on any assessment) Reading Comprehension: 25% - Quiz Annotation (1pt x 5) - Group Reading Guides* (1pt x 10) - Group Presentation*** (5pts x 2) Exams: 27% - Midterm Exam (12pts) - Final Exam (15pts) Novel Analysis: 43% - Illness (auto)ethnography (18 pts)* * - Final Project: (25 pts)* * Class participation: 5% * I n - class feedback ** Includes intermediate steps Quiz Annotation (1pt each) You will take Reading Quizzes administered before Group Presentations in Weeks 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, unless you are the Group presenting that week. You receive your point for taking, self-grading, and taking detailed notes on the quiz, particularly (but not only) any wrong answers. In other words, your quiz grade is not your quiz score, but rather reflects how accurately you corrected it. Quizzes will be annotated and collected in class, and graded quizzes will be returned before the Midterm and Final exams to be used as study guides. Students are encouraged to take photos of their own annotated quizzes for use in their novel analyses. Group Reading Guides (1pt each) You will read between 32-70 pages per week (all readings are available on Camino) . Every student must respond to every question in their Group's Reading Guide in Google Docs. While the majority of your responses should be substantive text, you may occasionally leave a substantive comment on a peer's response instead of providing a wholly new one. You