AFC 351 The Social Context of African American Health [GEKS]

Examines the health status of African Americans. Explores the interplay between environment, biology, and culture; folk and popular health practices; and the organization and delivery of health care.

Credit 3 hrs May not be repeated for additional credit
Grade Mode Normal (A-F) Course Rotation Winter (in-person or hybrid)

Prerequisites -
Restriction by Major -
Restriction by Class - Undergraduate standing

Rationale for Knowledge of the Disciplines - AFC 351 applies an analysis of the social and cultural basis of health to the African American experience. To this end, the course provides a broad introduction to social science suppositions and techniques. AFC 351 moves well beyond the idea that medical care - its presence, absence or quality - is the singular or most critical factor determining the health of a people, community or society. It reveals the importance of social phenomena in disease resistance and health promotion. Historical shifts from the prominence of infectious to chronic diseases; the implications to health of chattel slavery, sharecropping, segregation, poverty and structured inequality; the relationship between psychosocial factors and disease, i.e., destabilized social settings that compromise resistance to disease; environmental racism; and the health status of African Americans as it relates to the organization of work, family structure and function, religious beliefs, the organization of medical care, lifestyle, consumer manipulation and post-industrial society are major issues addressed by the course.

Equivalent Course(s) - AAS 351
Course History -
Course Rotation updated 12/2022; Course Rotation added 8/2014; Change to prefix 2/2013, effective Summer 2013

African American Studies, Africology, health, Knowledge of the Disciplines - Social Sciences (GEKS)

Winter 2025 Course Sections

Fall 2024 Course Sections