FYS 65 Social and Cultural Dimensions of Epidemics
“Social and Cultural Dimensions of Epidemics” is a critical health studies course that focuses on the social and cultural ways in which epidemics of disease have been framed and understood. The social and cultural contexts in which epidemics emerge, through language, cultural representations, and media framing, produce meaning as much as the biological and scientific ways in which epidemics carry meaning. Beginning with considering our current epidemic of COVID-19, we will move to consider what has been termed the “opioid epidemic,” the “crack cocaine epidemic,” HIV/AIDS, and various other epidemics throughout global history such as SARS, Ebola, the Spanish Flu, Polio, Yellow Fever, the Black Death, and various other plagues.