Race and Medicine

Catalog description

Race, racism, and medicine have long been intertwined. Medicine has had a major role in the formation of the concept of race, and racism has had important roles in the development of modern medicine, and in the production of health inequalities. This course looks at these relationships from a historical point of view. Designed to be a part of the minor in African and African-American studies, it emphasizes African and African American history, though there will be opportunities for students who wish to explore other aspects of race, ethnicity, medicine. Topics will include the medical construction of race, African medical systems, medicine and slavery, human experimentation, health and segregation, anti-racist medicine, and continuing problems of health inequality. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.