FR 1074 - PLAGUES AND PANDEMICS: PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE FRANCOPHONE WORLD
Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
The COVID-19 pandemic has urged us to rethink our role in global health, from taking care of all living beings to rethinking our relationship to the environment as the “new normal” renegotiates our collective memory, recovery, and resilience. Experiencing the lockdown and the successive waves of COVID variants has brought us to reassess what we mean when we talk of “good physical and mental health.” Delving into philosophy, literature, and the arts can provide comfort in knowing that humanity has gone through similar phases in the past. In this literature and cultural studies course, students will have an overview of the principles and practice of public health in the Francophone context, that is to say: in hexagonal France, its former colonial Empire, and its current overseas territories. Our interdisciplinary approach will consider primary sources ranging from literature and the arts to news outlets, film and social media, but will also draw on scientific studies, historical accounts, sociological studies, and urban studies to shed light on current and pressing questions such as: is there a link between vaccination status, class and race? Should obesity and diabetes be considered as “epidemics” in a culture where food is so important? Are we entering into an age of zoonoses (a disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans, such as monkeypox), and how should we design better cities to accommodate all forms of lives? How should societies include disabled people beyond providing accessibility? Students will gain knowledge about the organization of healthcare (patient-centered, as well as research programs) in France and how public health is organized at the local, national, and international level. First, they will read about the successes and failures in terms of the management of epidemics: the plague, AIDS, hysteria (or collective feminine madness), chikungunya, and dengue. They will also examine a series of case studies such as the chlordecone pollution in the French West Indies, reproductive injustice in Reunion, nuclear instability in French Polynesia, and the development of health humanities art programs in Quebec. They will become acquainted with current challenges in the Francophone world and think about ways to improve health and eliminate health disparities. They will also examine how public health interacts with and redefines notions of class, race, gender, and disability, and how science influences social and political discourses on bodies. This course is taught in English, no French is necessary.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Click here for class schedule information.
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