Gender and Bodies in Global Health

From an interdisciplinary perspective this course draws on anthropological and health science thinking around the constitution of sexes, genders and gender as determinants of health. Definitions of these categories are under constant reconstruction not least in light of recent scientific work at the cellular level that disrupt binary understandings of sex upon which historically the concept of gender have tended to theorise. Understanding the relationships between these categories and how they play out in the body as it exists in sickness and also health, as at once a social, symbolic and political entity has profound implications for how we approach systems, processes and outcomes in global health. The course takes the materiality of the body as an entry point to thinking through spectrums of sex and gender in understanding health, health systems and evidence in health sciences; anthropological renderings and queering of the body in global health; and, applications and political reflections on sex and gender in global health systems and organizations.