3451 Health and Societies in Africa

This course will examine how health and diseases are socially constructed in Africa and how those dynamics affect treatment-seeking behaviors of the population. In Africa, the public health system focuses more on the biomedical perspective, however the data by the World Health Organization shows that 80% of the population use alternative medicine (WHO, 2016). As a legacy of the colonial state, biomedicine tends to be the dominant perspective in a context of pre-existing medical cultures. The course will focus on medical pluralism in Africa. The social and cultural dynamics of the body, as well as the power relationships between institutions dedicated to health will be examined.

Course Objectives are to:

• Define and analyze health as a social and historical construction.

• Examine how social representations influence perceptions of health and diseases.

• Analyze treatment-seeking behavior and medical pluralism.

Required text:

• Eric de Rosny, Les yeux de ma chèvre. Sur les pas des maîtres de la nuit en pays Douala, Edition Plon, 2006 ; ISBN: 9782259185226