Course info

This module will provide a systematic examination of epidemics and pandemics from medical and sociocultural anthropological perspectives. We will examine epidemics/pandemics as social phenomena focusing on the ways in which human societies are impacted by, respond to, make sense of, and anticipate such events. We will examine anthropology's contribution to understanding and responding to epidemics/pandemics and their social and multispecies impact, introducing students to the ways in which anthropology can contribute to the critical advancement of global health.

This module aims to introduce key subjects in medical anthropology as these relate to pressing scientific and public debates in the world today regarding the subject of epidemics and pandemics. In these lectures we will examine anthropological and historical studies of these global questions and their local manifestations. Studying anthropological interventions in fields like AIDS/HIV, Ebola and COVID-19 will help us evaluate the significance and impact of ethnographic approaches and anthropological theoretical perspectives in the real world. Whilst gaining a deep knowledge of current medical anthropological literature, and the ethnographic, theoretical and epistemological questions that underpin it, students will also be able to evaluate anthropologists’ public intervention in epidemiological and global health debates that are shaping public opinion, scientific practice, and health-related policy today.