BIOL3980-01.Topics: Disease & Society.F13.Martinez-Vaz,Betsy

Betsy Martinez-Vaz

Document Type

Syllabi

School

CLA

Department

BIOL

Course Subject

BIOL

Course Number

3980

Course Section

01

Course Title

Topics: Disease & Society

Academic Term and Year

Fall 2013

Credits

4.00

Hamline Plan Letter

O

Area of Study

BIOL, HSCI

Course Description

Disease has profoundly shaped the development of human societies. Outbreaks and epidemics have also influenced the development of modern medicine and public health practices. This, course, which is co-taught by a biologist and an historian, seeks to place disease within a larger cultural and historical framework. We will explore how pathogens have affected the processes of civilization, war, conquest, and globalization, and the ways in which diseases in turn have been altered by contact and patterns of interaction among human beings, as well as with other organisms. At the beginning of the 21st century, our species faces the challenge of emerging “new” diseases as well as the resurgence of old ones. Global networks of travel, trade and communication promote the exchange of information and medical technology; they also facilitate the movement of the pathogens that accompany us as we board planes and load container ships. Disease is a universal phenomenon. However, neither disease nor medical treatment is equally distributed among the world’s populations. The course thus also examines disease as a biological expression of social and economic pathologies. This course is designed as an upper-level elective course for students in the Health Sciences Program and for Global Studies and History majors as well as other interested students. An introductory level course in Biology, Chemistry or in one of the social sciences is recommended.

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