Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
Sessions 1-4: Introductory sessions and analytical frameworks
1

Introduction to the course

Analytical frameworks:

  1. Inequity and health; health and human rights
  2. Neoliberalism and inequity
  3. Feminism, feminist theory, and inter-sectionality

Videos shown in class:
Klein, Naomi. "Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism." April 23, 2012. YouTube. Accessed May 13, 2015. 

Eigenberger, Martin. "Neoliberalism as a Water Balloon." October 11, 2011. YouTube. Accessed May 13, 2015. 

Bunch, Charlotte. "Women's Rights Are Human Rights." Makers.

  
2 Analytical framework: Structural critiques of capitalism and mechanisms of exclusion I  
3 Analytical framework (cont.): Structural critiques of capitalism mechanisms of exclusion II  
4

Analytical framework: Feminism, femnist theory, and inter-sectionality

Shame, silence and secrecy: The case of menstrual health

Film shown in class:
Chesler, Giovanna. Period: The End of Menstruation? Cinema Guild, 2006.

  
5

Corporate obstetrics and care-less maternity; or how childbirth went to the industrial north

Film shown in class (clips):
Biasucchi, Cara. Born in Brazil (Nascendo no Brasil). Cara Mia Media, 2002.

  
6

Reproductive justice and the abortion wars: The color of resistance

Invited Guest Speaker: Loretta Ross, Founder of SisterSong, Women of Color for Reproductive Justice, Activist in Residence, Smith College.

Film shown in class (clips / trailer):
Reproductive Justice Project. Sophia Smith Production. Smith College Library, 2014.

 Annotated bibliographies and research paper due
7

Where fat phobia and public policy meet: The case of the "obesity epidemic"

Film shown in class:
Robertson, Dylan. The Size of It. Filmmakers Library, 2002.

  
8 Student presentations of Op-Eds  Op-Eds due
9

When bodies don't fit: The case of intersex

Guest speaker: Esther Morris Leidolf, Intersex rights activist

Film shown in class:
Lahood, Grant. Intersexion. Ponsonby Productions. 2012.

  
10

Violence against women: The case of harassment

Film shown in class:
Mock, Freida. Anita: Speaking Truth to Power. Phase4Films, 2013.

  
11

Marginalization gender and violence

Guest speaker: James Gilligan, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor in the School of Law, and Collegiate Professor in the School of Arts and Science at New York University.

  
12

Bottom lines over better lives? The case of big pharma's role in shaping mental and physical health diagnosis and treatment.

Guest speaker: Eric Brown, Biochemical Engineer

Film shown in class:
Ridberg, Ronit. Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs. Media Education Foundation, 2006.

  
13–14 Presentations of / discussions of research paper Research paper and presentation due