HIST 390 Health & Healing in Africa

Health & Healing in Africa

In this course, we will explore the powerful and complex histories of health, healing, and medicine in Africa from the colonial period to the present. We’ll look at how medicine shaped—and was shaped by—colonialism, racism, urbanization, and resistance. Through stories of healers, patients, scientists, and political leaders, we’ll trace how medical encounters served as stages for clashes over who could diagnose, who could heal, and who got to live. We’ll read about witches and waste, pharmacies and polio, and examine how African communities have confronted medical violence while also reimagining what it means to care, to cure, and to endure. This class is suited to students interested in history, medicine, anthropology, global health, and beyond.