Medicine and Healing in the Black Atlantic
AFAM 299
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
STS 299 |
This course examines the ways in which Black people have conceived of health, healing, and the body since 1500. Readings, lectures, and documentary films will focus on historical case studies in Western Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and North America. We will cover topics such as herbal and environmental medicine; the intersections of religion and healing; gendered medical knowledge and labor; medical racism and exploitation; health disparities; and health activism. To help us situate these topics in the lived experiences of historical actors, we will use a variety of primary sources, including narratives of formerly enslaved people, court cases, correspondence, interviews, and print culture. The goal of this course is not simply to show how Black people have used healing practices to endure racism, slavery, imperialism, and racial capitalism: We will also emphasize how medicine and healing have been sources of joy, conflict, knowledge production, and entrepreneurship within Black communities. Lastly, we will consider the present and future of Black health and think about what it would take to make medicine and health care for all. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AFAM |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(CBST-MN) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
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Kalle Kananoja, Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa: Medical Encounters, 1500-1850 (2021)
Sean Morey Smith and Christopher D. E. Willoughby, eds., Medicine and Healing in the Age of Slavery (2021)
José R. Jouve Martin, The Black Doctors of Colonial Lima: Science, Race, and Writing in Colonial and Early Republican Peru (2014)
Deirdre Cooper Owens, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology (2017)
Abena Dove Osseo-Asare, Bitter Roots: The Search for Healing Plants in Africa (2014)
Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination (2011)
Dan Royles, To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle against HIV/AIDS (2020)
Keisha Ray, Black Health: The Social, Political, and Cultural Determinants of Black People's Health (2023)
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Examinations and Assignments:
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One in-class presentation on weekly readings (~10 minutes); one analysis of a recent media piece (3-4 pages); one mock lesson plan and syllabus (4-5 pages); one final essay on a course-related topic of your choice (6-8 pages)
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): DeMarco,Liana Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: CAAS LOUNG; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 4 | FR: 3 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 4 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 2 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 0 |
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