Curriculum

The Global Health Humanities Gateway is a three-semester program. In the first year, students take one introductory core course in the fall, one core course in the spring, and one elective course in either semester. The capstone experience is an approved term of study at a global site or the completion of an approved semester-long, ½ credit community engagement project.

First Year, Fall Semester Core Course:

Global Health Humanities: An Introduction

This course will introduce students to questions in the field linking the study of health and wellness with the study of the human conditions in fields of the humanities, such as literature and philosophy, gender and human rights, art and education, religion and environment. We will investigate how health and the practice of medicine is part of a broader understanding of what it means to care for ourselves and others and to promote wellness and the dignity of individuals and communities in ways that have both local and global implications. Students will gain insight into the various approaches to global health-related issues, such as exploring the experiences of disability, death, caregiving, wellness, and healing practices that inform scientific and medical research and practices.

First Year, Spring Semester Core Course:

Rhetorics of Health + Hartford

This course utilizes rhetorical analysis as a methodology for analyzing and interpreting discourses of health and healthcare, with particular attention to how these discourses function in Hartford. We will develop rhetorical analytical skills and examine case studies of health communication throughout the world. This work will prepare us to perform our own investigation of the rhetorics of health in Hartford. How are ideas about health communicated, to whom, and for what purposes? What perceptions or assumptions of the community are embedded in these messages? The course will include a community engagement component.

First Year Electives (either semester):

The list of electives includes courses from across a wide variety of disciplines and departments, including courses like:
ANTH 215: Medical Anthropology
AMST 212: Introduction to Disability Studies
BIOL 141: Global Perspectives on Biodiversity and Conservation
RELG 260: Meditation, Medicine, and the Mind
PHIL 244: The Music of Thought
PSYC 206: Environmental Psychology & Sustainability
PSYC 219: Science and the Practice of Well-Being
HIST 211: The Doctor-Patient Relationship

Capstone Experience (Completed by the end of Junior year):

Students complete the GHHG in one of two ways:

1) A health-focused semester away at an approved global site.

Trinity students have access to a range of Trinity Programs and Approved External Programs, such as “Global Health and Human Rights” in Kenya and “Public Health, Gender and Community Action” in India. For a complete list of semester-long study away programs, click HERE. Students studying at global sites will connect regularly with other GHHG students and share their learning at our end-of-year GHHG event.

2) A one-semester, ½ credit independent community engagement project.

The community engagement component may take many forms, such as collaborating with a health-related non-profit or advocacy group or creating a publicly available resource, such as a digital exhibition. Students will be encouraged to collaborate with Trinity’s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research. Students in the process of completing their projects will meet regularly with the GHHG directors and give a presentation of their work and our end-of-year event.