Course Description: 207
This course is designed to introduce students to the practice and value of cultural studies through the examination of diverse representations of public health in the 20th and twenty-first century US. Our studies will zero-in on the production and distribution of food, the promise of “clean coal” and nuclear power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and global warming, workplace safety, and the health care delivery system. Particular attention will be paid to the workers who produce what the rest of us of consume, the conditions under which they labor, and the environment in which they, their families, and those not employed by these industries live. Primary texts include fiction, film, scientific studies, and investigative reporting. Students are expected to actively participate in class discussion and a group project pegged to one of the above topics, to produce short responses to assigned readings, and a final 7-8 page essay or an alternative project. Required texts: Course packet; The Jungle; My Year of Meats; Strange As the Weather Has Been.