Culture, Meaning and Power in Health Equity

Catalog description

In one of his seminal essays on culture, the anthropologist Clifford Geertz underlined the conviction that there is virtually no part of human life that is not shaped by culture. He wrote, “what man [sic] is may be so entangled with where he is, who he is, and what he believes that it is inseparable from them.” Yet, much contemporary research—including the science of health equity—still largely reduces culture to a basic set of characteristics to be controlled for or adapted to. This course will draw on perspectives across disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and community psychology, to explore how culture and power shape the health of individuals and populations, as well as our efforts to achieve health equity.