Objectives

This course brings past infectious disease events into dialogue with the present, promoting a historically based – and multidisciplinary – understanding of the factors shaping the relationship between pandemic/epidemic outbreaks and society. Instructors for the course will bring together diverse knowledge from community health, Indigenous, infectious disease, humanities, and social sciences perspectives.

The course will make accessible current and timely scholarly research, using teaching practices intended to be inclusive for all learners. Themes in the course will include ideas of race, gender, difference, and stigma during disease outbreaks; poverty, inequality, and disease vulnerabilities; colonialism and Indigenous healing and forms of knowledge; cultural and literary interpretations of infectious disease; global health; public health responses; and scientific knowledge and its mobilization.

Assessment

There is no formal evaluation and there are no course assignments or tests.

Format

The ten modules will be led by a team of UM researchers from a variety of disciplines. Individual class formats will vary according to the preferences of the instructor but may include lectures and presentations, roundtables, guided reading, class discussion, guest speakers, and a variety of online materials such as podcasts and short videos.

Classes will be virtually accessible via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. Opportunities will be available for those connecting remotely to engage in class discussion using OWL meeting technology. Registration is limited to 40 in-person participants. Registration for online-only participation over this limit will be considered.

Topics and Tentative Schedule

(subject to change)

In-person classes will be held on weekday late afternoons, five per term. Modules 1 through 5 are in the Fall 2023 term, Thursday late afternoons beginning October 6, 2022. There will be a class roughly every 2 weeks. In Fall, classes will be held in Room 201 St John’s College, Fort Garry Campus, UM. In Winter, classes are in Room 474 Chown Building, Bannatyne Campus. Each class will run for 60-90 minutes. ALL TIMES ARE CST.