Space available for AUT 2020
AFRAM 498B: Health Disparities in African American Women
SLN: 10199
T Th 4:30-6:20pm
5 Credits / I&S
Instructor: LaShawnDa Pittman
Did you know that compared to women from other racial and ethnic backgrounds, Black women experience persistent and severe health disparities, including disparities in mortality, reproductive health, heart disease, various cancers, and HIV/AIDS? They also experience disparities in access to health care, quality of care received, and health insurance coverage.
This course examines how social, economic, environmental, cultural and lifestyle factors contribute to differences in morbidity and mortality in Black women compared to women from other racial and ethnic backgrounds and Black men. We will also examine social determinants of population health among Black women. Through readings, films and class discussion we will trace the history of Black women’s health disparities beginning in the Jim Crow era. We will also explore theoretical perspectives and research methodologies pertinent to understanding the impact of gendered racism on Black women’s health outcomes, including race as a biological construct, structural racism, intersectionality, weathering, the life course approach, and Public Health Critical Race praxis.
