Money, Power, Bodies: Public Health and Political Economy

In what ways do power, privilege, and profit show up in a variety of bodies, including our own? How does a system organized around profit shape and structure our health, choices, and communities? In this interdisciplinary program, we will use the lenses of political economy and public health to delve into economic, epidemiological, political, and social dimensions that intersect health, money, and power on national and global levels. This program continues the work started in winter quarter in Embodied Justice: Political Economy and Public Health. Students do not need to have studied public health nor political economy to be successful in this program.

We will explore the political economy of the last several decades; we'll deploy tools of political economy to analyze the relationship between the economic structure of human society and impacts on public health. Political economy asks who has what, who does what work, how it got to be that way and how to change it. Through these explorations, we will get a better understanding of the ways in which society itself becomes hierarchical and divided by race, class, gender, and sexuality, and how we embody those disparities. A particular focus will be the political economy of the drug trade (pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs), its deeper history, and the use of drugs as weapons against communities.

Our public health studies will begin with an examination of reproductive health, politics, and justice, and the ways that class, race, gender, and dis/ability are vectors of power and control that affect how reproduction is discussed, legislated, and experienced in the United States. We’ll also explore the child welfare and foster care systems as key sites determining the health and well-being of children and adolescents, particularly youth of color. In addition, we’ll examine the school-to-prison pipeline, and the impacts of zero-tolerance policies in schools. Students will learn about topics in reproductive physiology, and have the option to carry out a dissection of (non-human) reproductive organs.

Films–documentary and features–as well as workshops and seminars in economics, health, reproductive politics, globalization, and writing will be used. This program requires all participants to be ready to fully commit themselves to our common work and show a willingness to help build a community of learners. Students will complete a quarter-long research project on a program-related topic of their choice.

This program will lead students through intermediate-to-advanced work in two Paths of Study: Political Economy, Global Studies, and Environmental Justice; and Psychology, Health, and Community. Any students interested in political economy, health, and politics (and more!) who have solid academic skills are welcome to join us.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies: 

6 - Public Health, Reproductive Politics and Reproductive Justice

6 - Political Economy

4 - Research