SOA 350: Read Soc & Anthro Lit

Attention Students: This SOA 350 course focuses on the sociocultural determinants of mental health. We explore mental disorders through a critical examination of the sociocultural and economic contexts within which people live. These contexts include violence and torture, specific religious traditions, economic change, family dynamics and child-raising practices, racism and social marginalization, substance abuse, stigma, isolation, and barriers to care. We draw on research conducted by scholars working in medical anthropology, psychiatry, psychopharmacology, and the history of science to examine how mental illness calls attention to troubling social circumstances, and how the biomedical management of mental illness may operate as a form of social control.