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CS92PROD
Medicine and Healing in the Black Atlantic
AFAM 299
Spring 2025
Section: 01  
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.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS AFAM
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(CBST-MN)
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74%

Last Updated on NOV-23-2024
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