3.0

credits

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This course explores the intersection of technology and health through three main phases in the history of global health: colonial medicine from the 19th century to the mid-20th century, international health in the post-World War II era, and global health from the late 20th century to the present day. Through background lectures and seminar discussions, students will consider how technologies for health are designed, developed, distributed, used, and discarded. We will ask questions such as: How and why were certain technologies chosen over others? How and why has the use of technology in international health programs changed over time? How have medical technologies been transferred between geographic, social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental contexts? This course is a first year seminar, designed to develop students’ understanding of how to conduct historical scholarship.