i was forwarded this course description. it may be interesting to those interested in health, human rights and social justice. ------------------------------ Original Message ------------------------------ Subject: [Human Rights] Course in Health, Development and Social Transformation From: "Joel Ngugi" <jngugi@u.washington.edu> Date: Mon, May 12, 2008 18:22 To: lawb596a_sp08@u.washington.edu lawa571a_sp08@u.washington.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear All: I am writing to let you know that next winter, I will be teaching (or, more appropriately, leading) a course on "Health, Development and Social Transformation" in the Winter. The course will be hosted by Jackson School and cross-registered here at the law school, and also at Evans School, School of Social Work, and Program on Environmental Studies. We hope to draw about 30 graduate and undergraduate students from all these schools in the course. I have included the course description and the list of topics that will be covered below. As you will see, the course will be an inter-disciplinary approach to dealing with the health crisis in the Greater Horn of Africa using a human rights and social justice framework. I hope to see some of you in the class. Please note the topics and guest lecturers are only tentative: Course Description: Health, Development and Social Transformation This course is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexities inherent in efforts to simultaneously improve health and human rights in the context of the unique economic, social, political and cultural transformations (and upheavals) occurring in the Greater Horn of Africa. It will examine the multiplicity of social, economic, cultural, legal, and political factors which affect the health and well-being of individuals and societies, and interrogate working models of approaches to favorably alter them. The course will examine ways in which public health professionals, lawyers, development agencies, anthropologists, social workers, and others have theorized about social and economic change, and the history and ethical implications of their practical engagement with development intervention. Through interdisciplinary studies, the course will seek to demonstrate the links between economic, sociological, social, and political processes, changing identities and development intervention. It will examine concrete social problems in developing countries such as public health management, access to health care, women's property rights, trade and economic development policies, the effects of armed conflicts and environmental degradation, the role of human rights, and the role of the state and regulation. The course will begin by giving the students sufficient background to understand the context in which the praxis of health amelioration, health care provision, and the improvement of underlying determinants of health (such as sanitation, clean drinking water, and health education) occurs in the setting of the Greater Horn of Africa; and critically assess the modes of production of knowledge about these challenges, and how we think and talk about them. One of the underlying themes of the course is to explore the idea that particular forms of knowledge generated and transmitted by civil society and their contestation are a key determinant in the operationalization of the human rights and social justice projects. Topics 1. Framing the Course: Defining "Health"; "Development"; "Human Rights"; "Social Transformation"; and "Social Justice" 2. The Pornography of Poverty: Representations about Africa and Poverty in Development and Human Rights Discourses 3. The Health Crisis in Africa and the Role of Health in Social Transformation Historical and Contemporary Perspectives 4. The Backdrop of Economic Development: Understanding the Challenges of Achieving Health in the Context of "Underdevelopment" 5. Analysis of current health crisis in the Greater Horn of Africa: a. HIV/AIDS b. Reproductive rights c. Malaria d. Child mortality e. Lack of access to basic health care f. Malnutrition and starvation 6. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Human Rights Perspectives (Guest lecturer from Law School) 7. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Public Health Perspectives (Guest lecturer from Global Health) 8. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Perspectives from Development Studies (Guest lecturer from Evans School) 9. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Anthropological Perspectives (Guest lecturer from Anthropology) 10. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Economic Perspectives (Guest lecturer from Jackson School) 11. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Feminist Perspectives (Prof. Sylvia Kangara - Law) 12. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Perspectives from Social Work (Peris Kibera, PhD candidate - Social Work) 13. Solving Health and Development Crisis: The Role of Technology and Standard Setting (Prof. Jane Winn - Law) 14. Solving Health and Development Crisis: Cultural/Grass Root Perspectives (Ms. Loyce Ong'udi of Rabuor Village Project) 15. Case Study: Analysis of a Current Controversy: Female "Circumcision" 16. Case Study: Analysis of a Current Challenge: HIV/Aids Pandemic 17. Obstacles: Focus on Armed Conflict (Guest speaker from Mercy Corps) 18. Obstacles: Focus on Environmental Degradation 19. So You Want to do Health, Development or Human Rights Work Abroad? (Odhalia Mbuni of Seattle City Social Work Dept & Peter Kithene, MPH student, UW) 20. Wrap-up session: So What did we Learn? Joel M. Ngugi Assistant Professor of Law University of Washington School of Law William H. Gates Hall, Rm 315 Box 353020 Seattle, WA 98195-3020 Tel: (206) 543-7611 Fax: (206) 543-5671 http://www.law.washington.edu/Directory/Profile.aspx?ID=149 _______________________________________________ Lawb596a_sp08 mailing list Lawb596a_sp08@u.washington.edu http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/lawb596a_sp08