Fall 2026 topic title: Medicine, Science, and Society
Instructor: Zoë H. Wool
Pre-requisites: none
This course explores the science and practice of medicine through the tools of sociocultural anthropology, introducing students to foundational concepts in critical medical anthropology and the social study of science. This means that rather than considering medical science as an objective and timeless truth, we ask: Who defines what counts as healthy or sick? Who benefits from those definitions? And how and why have the answers changed across time and place? Topics may include: health, medicine, and colonialism; neo-eugenics, race, and disability; the pharmaceuticalization of physical and mental health; organ transplantation; assistive reproductive technologies; and war and health.