This course critically examines cancer as a pervasive disease and a metaphor of global modern cultures. Students will be exposed to the ways cancer is perceived as a somatic and social standard within locally constructed cognitive frameworks. They will investigate the scientific and emotional responses to the disease and the ways cancer challenges our faith and spirituality, our ways of life, notions of pollution and cleanliness, and our healing strategies. This approach to cancer is comparative and interdisciplinary and focuses on how specialists in different societies have described the disease, how its victims in different cultures have narrated their experiences, how causality has been perceived, and what interventions (sacred or secular) have been undertaken as therapy and prevention.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 25

Prerequisites: None

Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis

Typical Periods Offered: Every other year

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Spring