MEDH 4380 PHARMACEUTICALS, THE SELF, & SOCIETY (3 credits)
How do pharmaceuticals, for example those used to treat chronic pain to diabetes to depression, shape our lives? What are the stakes pharmaceutical treatment for an individual's sense of self, their social connections, and their livelihood? How has pharmaceuticalization, the growing use of pharmaceuticals to frame everyday life, spread across the globe? Pharmaceuticals connect a global industry with subjective experiences of healing, communication between prescribers and patients, tensions between self-care and health commodification, shifting boundaries of between normal and pathological experiences, and ethical claims to health as a human right. This course draws on anthropological theories and methods to explore these pressing questions and issues. (Cross-listed with ANTH 8386, ANTH 4380, MEDH 8386).
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 1050 or MEDH 1000 or instructor permission