Module Content:

Infectious diseases kill over 17 million people a year. With new ones affecting humans every year, the World Health Organization has declared that we are standing on the brink of a global crisis due to the devastation disease brings to humans, animals, plants and environments. This module will introduce students to ways in which anthropologists have engaged with infectious diseases both as an object of academic scholarship and as a focus of their applied work. It will ask what diseases such as malaria, influenza, HIV, polio, Lyme Disease, cholera, andEbola are and how they can be approached when viewed through an anthropological lens. It will critically engage with other disciplines and approaches ranging from epidemiology, global and public health, development and public policy to explore what unique insights anthropology can offer. Topics will draw on ethnographic examples from all over the world and cover approaches such as political ecology, political economy, critical theory, post-colonial studies, multispecies ethnography and infrastructural thinking. This will shed light on understanding disease as well as how an anthropology of disease in turn informs broader anthropological ideas about the body, identity and wellbeing; the environment, ecology and development; and technology, power and the state. This course aims to combine looking at how anthropology has engaged with diseases from the top down (i.e., the way in which governments and institutions have defined, prevented, prepared, responded to and tackled diseases and how this interacts with people’s experiences on the ground) as well from the bottom up (i.e., the way in which people on the ground experience and deal with disease and how this interacts with governmental and institutional framings and actions). This course will be especially attractive to anyone interested in applying anthropology outside of academia and entail using anthropological insights to inform initiatives, interventions and policies related to a range of infectious diseases.

 

This course will:

introduce students to a range of ethnographic material from around the world that explores infectious disease emergence, transmission and control both past and present

introduce students to debates in the anthropology of disease as well as how these relate to theoretical debates in the discipline of anthropology as a whole

 

bring together insights from different disciplines including anthropology, epidemiology, global health and public policy, community, creative and Third Sector organisations in order to evaluate the merits and limitations of each

 

equip students with research, critical evaluation and communication skills relating to engaging with, reviewing and enhancing policy related to infectious disease

 

Topics will include:

 

Diagnosing and Preventing: applying a decolonial perspective to defining malaria

Prediction and Anticipation: applying a multispecies perspective to preparing for zoonotic influenza

Outbreak and Emergency: applying a feminist perspective to responding to HIV

De-emergence and Ending: applying a political economic perspective to eradicating Polio

Patchworks and ‘Edge Effects’: applying a political ecological perspective to Lyme Disease

Systems and ‘Hotspots’: applying an infrastructural approach to understanding Cholera

Power and Perspectives: applying an anthropological approach to influencing policy on Ebola

 

Learning Outcomes:

 

Having completed the module students will:

gain an in-depth knowledge of a range of ethnographic material from around the world that explores infectious diseases
	be able to critically assess how an anthropology of disease fits within and informs broader themes and approaches within discipline of anthropology
	have gained a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of approaches to disease from disciplines including anthropology, epidemiology, global and public health, development and public policy and be able to critically assess the merits and limits of various disciplinary perspectives
	critically evaluate policy documents/plans using insights from anthropology, gaining skills in critical analysis, oral presentation and impactful writing
 

Have command of the following transferable skills:

research skills focused on collating and analysing primary and secondary data from a range of disciplines

independent learning, working with initiative and minimal supervision;

independence of thought and analytical, critical and synoptic skills

communication and presentation skills (using oral, visual and written materials and information technology)

peer collaboration and the ability to engage, where appropriate, in constructive discussion in group situations and group-work skills

         time, planning and management skills

 

Delivery Method:

This postgraduate course will be delivered via a weekly two-hour seminar.

Sessions will begin with a short lecture that is either delivered face-to-face (if COVID restrictions allow) or as pre-recorded flipped lectures accessed by students through the e-learning environment, Moodle. The second part of the seminar will entail students working in small groups to conduct a critical peer review of relevant case studies

 in light of issues brought up by the lecture/core readings.

 

Seminars will be facilitated in such a way as to give students the opportunity to communicate, analyse and interpret material for themselves as well as explain, apply and critique concepts orally in sessions and in writing through their assessment.

 

Students are expected to read core readings per week that consist of a mix of academic papers, news articles and policy/reports.

 

Moodle and e-learning provision will supplement the core activity, which is based on face-to-face contact time.

 

Additional Information:

 

Formative assessment will entail students conducting a critical evaluation of a policy document/report/initiative relating to one infectious disease discussed in the course (1000 words). This can be based on peer work conducted in weekly seminars.

 

Readings for this course will consist of mix of academic papers/works and policy/reports from organisations such as the World Health Organisation, Ministries of Health, National Health Service, Public Health England, Centres for Disease Control, Roll Back Malaria, Ebola Response Anthropology Platform etc.

 