Health, Culture, and Societies
Overview
As has become evident over the past several years, biological, social, cultural, economic, and political factors interact to shape experiences of health, illness, and disease in societies past and present. The Joint AOC in Health, Culture, and Societies (HCS) encourages analysis of these interwoven factors and their impact on health and well-being. It is designed to complement and deepen the learning experience in other AOCs for students interested in health-related careers, broadly defined. It is radically interdisciplinary (i.e., cross-divisional) and transdisciplinary (i.e., crossing the lines between academia, professional work outside of academia, and community engagement).
The HCS program provides an opportunity for students to explore different aspects and conceptions of health in their broader socio-cultural contexts. The underlying organization and cross-divisional design make this program appropriate for students who are interested in health from a humanistic (i.e., artistic, literary, historical, philosophical, or ethical), social scientific (i.e., anthropological, psychological, social, economic, or political), and natural scientific (i.e., biological, biochemical, physiological, or epidemiological) perspective, regardless of their primary area of concentration.
Along with an introductory course that presents interdisciplinary frameworks for understanding health, medicine, and disease, core course requirements focus on epidemiology, history of medicine, medical anthropology, medical ethics, and global health. A required professionalization seminar, offered as a group Independent Study Project (ISP), consists of career planning exercises and conversations with professionals in a wide variety of health-related fields. A required practicum allows students to explore internships and practical experiences with the support of core faculty and the Center for Career Engagement and Opportunity (CEO). CEO staff will assist students in securing practicums and help guide students on post-practicum reflections.
The Joint AOC in Health, Culture, and Societies will help prepare students for careers in medicine, nursing, and public health, as well as in allied health fields and specialized areas, including but not limited to art and music therapy, biophysics, data science, policy analysis, health advocacy, and healthcare administration. Moreover, this program allows students to become holistically educated citizens of health while providing flexibility, global vision, a focus on equity, and practical skills.
Faculty in Health, Culture, and Societies
Kristopher Fennie, Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Yidong Gong, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (On Leave)
Requirements for the Joint AOC in Health, Culture, and Societies
A minimum of six (6) academic units, a professionalization seminar, and a practicum.
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| Introductory Course | |
| Health, Culture, and Societies: Interdisciplinary Explorations | |
| History of Medicine Course | |
| Select one from the following examples: | |
| A History of Biomedicine* | |
| Medicine and Literature* | |
| Islam and Medicine* | |
| The Black Death | |
| Epidemiology Course | |
| Select one from the following examples: | |
| Epidemiology Matters: An Introduction* | |
| Epidemiology of AIDS | |
| Social Epidemiology | |
| Medical Anthropology Course | |
| Select one from the following examples: | |
| Medical Anthropology | |
| Beyond the Body: Anthropology of Surgery* | |
| Medical or Biological Ethics Course | |
| Select one from the following examples: | |
| Introduction to Ethics* | |
| Environmental Ethics | |
| Animal Minds and Ethics* | |
| Biomedical Ethics* | |
| Global Health Course | |
| Select one from the following examples: | |
| Global Mental Health | |
| Colonial Encounters* | |
| Global Health and Humanity | |
| Professionalization Seminar | |
| Professionalization Seminar usually offered as a Group ISP | |
| Practicum | |
| Practicum: Experiential course or internship related to health | |
| Recommended: Statistics or Quantitative Data Course | |
| Select one of the following: | |
| Introduction to Applied Statistics* | |
| Statistics for Economics and the Social Sciences* | |
| Biostatistics | |
| Dealing with Data I* | |
| Optional Electives | |
| Many courses will add depth and focus to your studies although they may not fulfill a specific requirement; for example: | |
| Politics of Health Care Policy in the U.S. | |
| Public Health Disparities* | |
| Psychology of Mental Health | |
| Dance, Brain, and Parkinson's | |
| Nineteenth-Century British and American Literature: When Everything Changed* | |
| Personality Psychology | |
| Introduction to Microbiology | |
| Optional Senior Thesis | |
| Senior Capstone Project or Senior Thesis, and Baccalaureate Exam | |
Representative Senior Theses in Health, Culture, and Societies
- Addiction: Critique of the BDMA and Development of a Transdisciplinary, Biopsychosocial-Ecological Model
- Educating the Bodymind in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend and McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang
- Understanding Perceptions of Fictional Depictions of Autism in the Media