Week 9 At-A-Glance

Read

All the posts in the Assignment Discussion Post 1 in the module for Week 2: What does it mean to call race a social construct? Write your own response if you haven't already.

Watch

In class we will watch the original JAMA podcast together (I will also provide the transcript). How does the podcast demonstrate racecraft in action? How would an understanding of history have contributed to their discussion about structural racism?

Then we will split into groups to discuss the question

What is medicine if not colonization persevering?

I am contemplating a debate style thing as in taking a yes/no approach and arguing a side, but at the very least I want us to think about

  • What does this mean?
  • Is that all medicine is?
  • Can colonization and antiracism co-exist?
  • How can we use historical knowledge to de-colonize health care?

For reference you can also read the blog post that my histmed colleagues and I wrote:

https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/03/05/apologies-alone-wont-solve-structural-racism-we-need-a-reckoning-with-the-racist-roots-of-u-s-medicine Links to an external site.

Here is a good background reading from the famous psychiatrist Franz Fanon about the link between medicine and colonization.

Download Fanon Colonialism and Medicine.pdf