LAS 422 Health Beyond Borders

This course examines the social study of human health both within and beyond the borders of Latin America. In addition to the violent processes of human migration, we will explore how other border-crossings of pathogens, chemicals, climates, economies, medicine, and morality move across borders and how and why they become critical to assessing key dilemmas of `global Latin American health today. How do borders, of landmasses, nation states, and even the body itself, shape human health through the boundaries they structure? On the other hand, how is interdisciplinary research on health contending with the breakdown of borders at various scales of human existence? To answer these questions, students will read historical and contemporary texts to grapple with the complex conditions that constitute health, suffering, and disease in Latin America and beyond.