Intersectionality and Health Inequities

Catalog description

This interdisciplinary seminar course examines health inequities in the US using an intersectional lens. Intersectionality addresses how multiple power relations and systems of oppression impact the lived experiences of multiply marginalized groups in historical and social context. During this course, we will discuss the historical and theoretical underpinnings of intersectionality and its conceptual and methodological applications to public health. We will also examine how multiple forms of discrimination – including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, cisgenderism, xenophobia, and ableism – shape health inequities among diverse multiply marginalized groups in differential and compounding ways. This course will also address how multiply marginalized communities have resisted oppression and discrimination and promoted their own health and well-being through community organizing efforts and social movements. Finally, we will identify the implications of using an intersectional approach to addressing health inequities for research, policy, and practice.