PBH 305 - Public Health and Film

The course will explore the history of and contemporary public health, using film to grapple with questions including: why do we pay attention to some public health problems and not others? From whose perspectives are the stories of public health told? How do those representations affect public perceptions and public health practice and policy? The course will require students to engage with public health and documentary ethics as well as critical analysis of how they and others produce and evaluate information about public health. We will engage with a variety of complex topics in public health, including the nature of public health as a profession and a range of public health issues including HIV/AIDS, emerging pathogens, opioid use, and environmental disasters.