Fall 2024 Sociomedical Sciences P8703 section 001

Health Advocacy

HEALTH ADVOCACY

Call Number 15846
Day & Time
Location
R 4:00pm-6:50pm
532A ROSENFIELD B
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Merlin Chowkwanyun
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description For anybody who’s spent even a little time in public health circles, it doesn’t take much effort to list the many societal ills that desperately call for action. What’s equally important, though, is answering the classic question that’s bedeviled advocates for centuries: “What is to be done?” This course will help us sharpen our answers to that question through study of recent advocacy efforts around COVID-19; HIV/AIDS; climate change; reproductive rights; environmental justice/racism; mass incarceration and criminal justice reform (particularly in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement), and others. Along the way, we’ll also learn about enduring dilemmas scholars have identified that confront all health advocates. These include: the costs and benefits of working within (versus outside of) formal politics; framing rhetoric to reach wider audiences; the virtues and drawbacks of confrontational direct action; public apathy towards “health” issues; oppositional movements at complete odds with theirs; and more recently, the potential of social media.
This course also contains a skills component, where students will learn basic legislative, legal, and media research that can aid advocacy efforts.
Web Site Vergil
Department Sociomedical Sciences
Enrollment 22 students (27 max) as of 4:05PM Saturday, December 21, 2024
Subject Sociomedical Sciences
Number P8703
Section 001
Division School of Public Health
Open To Public Health
Note Other: Parallel or prior enrollment in MSPH Foundations of P
Section key 20243SOSC8703P001