The following courses enhanced my understanding of both the global studies and global health. I was able to examine health in the African Diaspora, Health through nutrition and how it affects the body, medical practices from different models, as well as the overlapping of magic, science and medicine. With these classes combined with the general global perspective I learned in the Intro to Global Studies Core class I am more prepared in the department of global healthcare.
Alexis Whitaker
University of Pittsburgh
Global Studies Coursework
Coursework Descriptions
Health and Well Being Courses
This introductory course is required of all Global Studies students and introduces the themes of the discipline. In this course we examined theories of power in addition to their affects on those within the country, globalization, the environment, and governmental rule within different countries. This course gave insight on the conditions of those in other countries and allowed for a more rounded picture of mankind.
This course examines the health and wellbeing of beings who are part of the African Diaspora. We examined the effects of the environment and political conflict in the Caribbean, Colorism in South America, and systemic racism and housing in the United States. This overlapped with the environmental and housing themes covered in the Global Studies course and provided a more focused and detailed account for a specific people over time.
The nutrition and environment of inhabitants from all over the world were analyzed in this course. We learned the food groups and the names of macro and micronutrients and minerals and what foods they are found in. Using this, we were able to examine the foods that are considered staples in diets around the world and used this to predict, analyze and explain different roles that people take on in society.
Using the anthropological perspective, I was able to examine the symbolism and meaning of foods eaten by groups. We read literature and watched movies around the foundation of food in order to learn how these reflect values and culture in societies. Expectations and beliefs were examined through the media as we explored the true meaning of “authenticity” as the food trade is vast and preparation techniques are shared around the world.
In this course I learned about the different medical systems from around the world. We read articles and pieces written by practitioners in each in order to learn more about the roles that medicine plays in the societies they inhabit. We also watched cases of mental illness in different systems and learned about the assumed causation of illnesses in mental health. This is especially important and necessary for the treatment of people from around the world.
This course examines the scientific revolution and breakthroughs in science and medicine after that. This course puts a philosophical spin on these topics in order to encourage rethinking what can be considered “good science” and, consequentially, “good medicine”. Philosophers (now called scientists) that were studied include Aristotle, Galen, Socrates, Mesmer, and more. The overlapping of science, in the cases of physics and astronomy, and medicine allow for my widened perspective of health and wellbeing in general. Theories about the tides lead to theories about the body and it being a microcosm and thus this helps with diagnosis and treatment.
This was a research course taken while studying abroad in Tanzania. During my time in Tanzania, I was able to visit several clinics, hospitals, and traditional healers in order to write about the approaches towards health in Tanzania (in rural, suburban and city life), the culture and role of medicine in society, and perspectives of different medical approaches and the Tanzanian health system as a whole. This was all taken into account in order to examine the articulation rates of women in both branches of medicine – traditional or biomedical. The results were that women were beginning to lean more towards traditional medicine due to the sharper focus on women’s health and her independence more than in women’s health in hospitals. There seemed to have been both acceptance and rejection of traditional medicine in all areas studied, however almost all of those that were interviewed believed in the significance of biomedical approaches.