Global History of Disease

The course considers major diseases to understand their multiple meanings across time and space including: plague, cholera, influenza, sleeping sickness, PTSD, AIDS and malaria. Themes to be considered include changing theories of disease causality, the development of international public health policy, social understandings of the body, and the growth of the pharmaceutical industry.  Case studies from India, Brazil, South Africa and the United States will be analyzed through readings, lectures and films.

Medicine in African History

In this course, we explore how communities have confronted disease throughout Africa’s history.  During the first six weeks, we read about the changing role of specialist healers since the 1700s, including shamans, malams, nurses, and drug peddlers. The second half of the course turns to the history of specific diseases including malaria, AIDS, and Ebola through regional case studies. Particular emphasis is placed on pre-colonial and traditional healing, medical education, colonial therapeutics, and the impact of environmental change.

Fashion in African History

What does Fashion tell us about historical change? In this class, we will learn how the making of fibers, fabrics, and fashion have shaped African history. The course begins with an analysis of who owns fashion designs to consider controversies behind costumes in the land of Wakanda created for the film Black Panther. Course participants will then study the making of fibers in African societies across time including cultivation of cotton, sourcing of silk, and indigo dyeing.

Medicine in Empire/Diaspora

In this course, we consider the making of medical knowledge since the 1500s. Readings and course materials consider different ways to conceptualize empires and diasporas to show overlapping arenas for medical authority.  Case studies include the circulation of materia medica within the British, Spanish, and Dutch empires, the contest between Ayurveda and biomedicine in South Asian diasporas, the movement of African medical knowledge during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the globalization of Chinese traditional medicine, and research on genetic diseases within populations.

African Cities Since 1500

This survey course is an introduction to the study of Africa's past through the story of urbanization. Major themes include: everyday life under imperial rule, healing and religion, African nationalism, and development theories. Students will select an African city to study through independent research projects.

African Travel Narratives

This course examines histories of Africa and travel through eyewitness accounts. Course participants will study journeys Africans have made within and from the continent alongside accounts of travelers visiting Africa from elsewhere. These travelers included migrant laborers, market women, Peace Corps volunteers, enslaved individuals, soldiers, political activists, adopted children, and religious evangelists since the 18th century.

 Material Culture in Africa: Fibers, Fabrics, and Fashion

This course explores emerging research on the social history of textiles and clothing, with special reference to cases in Africa and comparative material from Asia, the Americas and Europe. It seeks to integrate this work with ongoing debates in the field of science and technology studies on innovation, and technology transfer and appropriation.

Drugs in World History

In this seminar, we will focus on the multiple histories of major drugs including: Opium, Cocaine, Oral Contraceptives, Khat, Kola, and Viagra. We will trace stories of each substance across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas using articles, historical texts, novels and films. Seminar participants will gain a comparative perspective on how societies regulate, discover, test, and market legal and illegal drugs over time, and how these multiple approaches overlap and inform one another.