Course Description
Introduces students to the complex ways in which regional histories, colonial legacies, and ongoing geopolitical dynamics in global Asia shapes health. Building on six thematic pillars—social, cultural, and political determinants of health; knowledge production; gender and health; persistent invisibilities in health systems; critical global health reimagination; and new horizons in global health—course will provide students with tools to analyze health and narratives in global Asias.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will write a longer final research paper for the course.
Athena Title
Health and Narratives in Globa
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with health and experience developing and expressing ideas in written, oral, and other forms.
Graduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with health and experience developing and expressing ideas in written, oral, and other forms.
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will describe and discuss intelligently the complex ways in which health is shaped by regional histories, colonial legacies, and ongoing geopolitical dynamics in global Asias.
- Students will comprehend six thematic pillars in global health: (1) social, cultural, and political determinants of health; (2) knowledge production in global health; (3) gender and health; (4) persistent invisibilities in global health; (5) reimagining a critical global health; and (6) new horizons in global health.
- Students will understand the implications of universal global health protocols, analyze the challenges of pandemics and other diseases, and engage with the health experiences of indigenous and marginalized communities in global Asias.
- Students will learn to address health inequities in global Asias, while also contributing to global conversations about creating more inclusive health systems.
- Students will discuss your own position in relation to perspectives from global Asias.
- Students will demonstrate literacy by finding, evaluating, and using complex texts, sources, events and ideas.
- Students will communicate effectively in oral presentations, writing, class discussion, and community engagement activities.
Topical Outline
- This course introduces students to the complex ways in which regional histories, colonial legacies, and ongoing geopolitical dynamics in global Asias shape health. Building on six thematic pillars—social, cultural, and political determinants of health; knowledge production; gender and health; persistent invisibilities in health systems; critical global health reimagination; and new horizons in global health—this course would provide students with tools to analyze health and narratives in global Asias. Students would critically examine the implications of universal global health protocols, explore the challenges of pandemics and other diseases, and engage with the health experiences of indigenous and marginalized communities in global Asias. This course would prepare students to address health and narratives in global Asias, while also contributing to global conversations about creating more inclusive health systems. By blending theory and praxis, this curriculum would equip students to be change-makers in both academic and applied global health fields, fostering a deeper understanding of health as a transnational and intersectional concern.
Required readings for this course may include:
The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Global Health, edited By Tsitsi B. Masvawure and Ellen E. Foley (2024)
Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chinese and Chinese American Women: Racisms, Feminisms, and Foodways, written by Ziying You (2025)
Narratives of COVID-19 in China and the US (special journal issue), edited by Ziying You (2025)
And many other book chapters, articles, films, documentaries, videos, etc.
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
