Module ANTH30S7: Political Ecologies of Health

Department: Anthropology

ANTH30S7: Political Ecologies of Health

Prerequisites

• Sex, Reproduction and Love (ANTH2111) OR Global Health and Disease (ANTH2141)

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To explore the relationships between place and health, and between displacement and ill-health over both long- and short-term time horizons.
• To bring medical anthropology into conversation with planetary health and critical studies of development.
• To provide a window on the challenges of engaged anthropology in the context of unfolding crises.

Content

• The module explores questions about human health and well-being through case studies in which access to water, food, clean air or other vital resources has become contested.
• Topics that may be covered include: dams, modernity, and environmental conflict; contestation and resistance against development projects; colonization and displacement; debates concerning the Anthropocene; advocacy, networks, and applied anthropology.
• Students will explore a range of historical and contemporary cases, including the instructor’s ongoing research in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo valley.

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate advanced levels of current knowledge and intensive understanding of theories in medical anthropology and political ecology.
• Deploy analytical skills specific to the topics of health and environmental change.
• Be competent in accessing and assimilating specialised research literature of an advanced nature.

• Familiarity with the extended case method.

• In-depth knowledge of the anthropology of health and environment, with emphasis on interpretation and comprehensive understanding of primary or secondary data.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures may consist of pre-recorded videos, live presentations, break-out discussions or other activities as appropriate to the material covered from week to week.
• Seminar / tutorial elements will develop topics introduced in lectures and required reading to analyse aspects or case studies in greater depth and to prepare students for their summative assignment.
• Student preparation and reading time will allow engagement with specific references in advance of tutorials and general and particular reading related to the assessment, which may be a written assignment (such as an essay or report) or another format (e.g. podcast, video).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

500 word contribution to research project

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University