Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

New formations of wealth and power that contribute to international health disparities and consideration of the relations of power both between and within nation-states that make some people sick and keep others well. Economic and political collusions that make people sick. Infectious disease and child survival, health implications of war, biotech, and the politics of food and water.

COURSE DETAILS:

Wow, what a historical moment we are living in! HSCI 308 is about the global politics and economics of health, and it is a crazy time!  Here’s what you need to know about HSCI 308 during Summer Session, June 30-August 6, 2025:

• The course is designed for students who really want to understand why some people get sick and others don’t. It’s not about viruses and bacteria, but rather about the politics and economies of sickness. There is SO much going on at the moment. We’ll be talking a lot about the role of governments and markets shaping the likelihoods of health around the world and at home here in Canada.
• This course is not for you if you’re just looking for course credits. Or squeezing one last course in before graduation. Or taking 3 or more other courses in Summer term. The course is too rigorous for that, and it moves fast.
• Grading: Every year there are students who earn A+s and there are students who fail. There’s a pattern: Those who failed didn’t do the work and/or they missed too many classes and/or they didn’t use the class discussion activities to learn more than what they already knew. You’ll have to prepare for class and show up to do well. Course assignments are designed so that people who earnestly do the work and engage in the activities can get in the B+-A+ range. The class average is usually around a B, plus or minus.
• The course is six weeks long, twice a week, Mon and Wed afternoons. Kinda intense.
• The classes: They’re 3 hours long, and I lecture only for the first hour or so. There are activities, simulations, and discussions in every class. Participation counts. PowerPoints are posted after class, not before.
• There is a lot of talking with other people in this course, lots of back and forth between students, and with the teacher. We explore ideas and readings without students having to be perfect or say the perfect thing. The class is designed for students to learn and freely share ideas and hear a diversity of opinions. It’s not about owning the perfect idea, but rather learning how to use conversation and discussion to sharpen your own thoughts and understandings about the politics and economics about why people get sick. It’s also about building confidence to speak in groups by practicing doing just that. The course is designed so that we all ask and try to answer hard questions without fear. We work through ideas through talking, and everyone sharing thoughts about what things mean. If you don’t like to talk with other people in class, don’t take the course.
• No phones, tablets, computers in class. No kidding. Here’s why: 1) When we’re on our phones and screens, we are elsewhere. In HSCI 308, in person, talking with other people about real stuff – it’s about being present, not elsewhere. 2) Students need to know that no one is recording or videoing them (this happened one year) as they practice new conversational skills and try out new ideas. You get to make mistakes in my classroom, and this means feeling free enough to try out new ways to be convincing and persuasive in conversations, based on the readings, without being too distracted, or recorded.
• The readings: There’s no way to do well in this class without reading the assignments. But they are well-written and on the shorter side of university reading assignments. I’m really fussy about what I pick for the HSCI 308 readings because I really want you to read them (plus, I personally hate boring readings).
• The classroom: Setup is tables, not rows of lecture seats.
• The exams: It’s hard to cheat in this course. There are two exams, in person, invigilated. Each exam is newly made up (doesn’t use previous year exam questions). They are a mix of multiple choice, matching, and short essays that you write out by hand. The exams are based on the readings and the in-class experiences. Pretty much everything we do in class is examinable. The exams are fair and you’ll get a study guide one class ahead of time. But you’ll have to do the heavy intellectual lifting from Day 1. To get good exam grades, you will definitely have to read.
• The assignments: In addition to exams and reading for every class, there is a Critical Thinking assignment and a Logical Fallacies Quiz; both are designed to help you be critical consumers of current events. We live in a time when some people work very hard to make truth/evidence irrelevant. We’ll talk about how disinformation works, and the assignments are designed to help you develop skills to sort that out for yourself. Truth still matters.
• Participation: Attendance and engagement are super important. Yes, it's great when you speak up in class, constructively, and I also pay attention to participation in the smaller table-groups' work, who’s sharing, learning, and leading.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By course end, students should be able to:

1. Identify global institutional and economic arrangements that increase the likelihood of sickness.
2. Identify and weigh impact of contributing and complex factors of human health phenomena.
3. Name and critique elements of economic systems that shape global health outcomes.
4. Demonstrate critical thinking in preparatory, oral, and written work, specifically demonstrating an ability to identify fallacies of reasoning and strength of evidence.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES: