Health and its Politics in the 20th Century 

Who has a right to health, and who is responsible for maintaining it? Who should pay for it and who should provide it? Questions around access to health and medical management have been central to how international order, state formations and political systems have been imagined and organised in the 20th century. We will explore relationships among social and political structures and health in local, national and global contexts, moving in space, time and thematic approach throughout the course. We will focus on intersections of medical technologies and scientific knowledge; social movements and political ideologies, such as socialism and decolonisation; reproductive rights and women’s health movements; pharmaceutical production and markets; and the rise of global health and the neoliberal world order.