History of Public Health

Catalog description

Graduate Students Only This course explores the history of the global expansion of disease. By studying epidemics throughout human history - from the plague of Athens to Ebola - the course encourages students to think about the dynamics of globalization from a historical perspective. We will examine the relations between epidemics and warfare, colonial empires, and the growth of global trade networks, and consider how societies in different times and places have responded to the appearance (or threat) of epidemics. The course is divided into three main units: the first unit examines early epidemics (including plague and smallpox) and the globalization of disease as the result of emerging trade networks and exploration. The second unit will explore the rise of modern states in the 19th century and the need for new kinds of strategies to protect the public's health. The third unit will focus on the twentieth century, particularly on attempts to eradicate disease throughout the globe, the rise of international organizations, and the (re)-emergence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and COVID-19.