Studies in American Culture (310-0-10)
Topic
US Health:Illness & Inequality
Instructors
Shana B Bernstein
847/467-6850
620 Lincoln #205
Dr. Bernstein received her Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford University. Her research focuses on 20th century social reform, specifically civil rights and environmental justice. She teaches classes in Legal Studies, American Studies, and History on comparative race and ethnicity, immigration, and the history of health.
Meeting Info
Locy Hall 213: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
In this course students will examine themes in the history of health in the United States, particularly in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Readings will focus on the intersections between health and environment, gender, race, law, and region. We will consider questions such as what's the impact of environmental change in transforming medical, scientific, and lay understanding and experience of health and illness? What's the role of illness in shaping changing perceptions of the environment? How has race been central to the construction and treatment of disease? How has gender shaped conceptions of and approaches to health? What historical role have issues of gender, race, and class played in the inequitable distribution of pollution and in activist involvement in combating environmental hazards? How has changing food production and culture shaped health? This course assumes no previous coursework in the field, and students with a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines are encouraged to participate.
Learning Objectives
Course objectives include 1) to understand U.S. history (and contemporary society) through the lens of health and 2) to foster analytical, reading, discussion, and writing skills that will help students think and communicate critically about historical and contemporary society and politics.
Evaluation Method
two short papers, one longer paper, one presentation and discussion
Class Materials (Required)
Class materials: a combination of articles/book chapters on canvas and a few books, most likely the following:
• Laurie B. Green, John McKiernan -Gonzalez, and Martin Summers, eds., Precarious Prescriptions: Contested Histories of Race and Health in North America
• Nancy Langston, Toxic Bodies: Hormone Disruptors and the Legacy of DES
• Susan Levine, Levine, School Lunch Politics: the Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program
• Elaine Tyler May, America + the Pill
• Linda Nash, Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease, and Knowledge
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for American Studies Majors until the end of preregistration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone.