ANTHRO 1821 - Introduction to Social Medicine: Theory, Methods, Applications

M 9-11am

Dr. Lindsey Marten Zeve

This is an introductory social medicine discussion seminar designed specifically for undergraduate students who are interested in applications of medical anthropology to health and medicine. Social medicine uses insights from the “resocializing” disciplines— anthropology, history, and sociology-- to improve medical theory and the delivery of health care. This course will explore the historical foundations of social medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. It will then examine case studies of social medicine in the contemporary world that confront the challenges of post-colonialism, neoliberalism, racism, caregiving, and environmental health. Always, it will seek to put social medicine theories and methods in conversation with public health and clinical care, asking, “How can these fields be brought together productively to alleviate human suffering and advance equity?”