Health Advocacy

For anybody who’s spent even a little time in public health circles, it doesn’t take much effort to list the many societal ills that desperately call for action. What’s equally important, though, is answering the classic question that’s bedeviled advocates for centuries: “What is to be done?” This course will help us sharpen our answers to that question through study of recent advocacy efforts around CHIV/AIDS; climate change; reproductive rights; environmental justice/racism; mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, and others. Along the way, we’ll also learn about enduring dilemmas scholars have identified that confront all health advocates. These include: the costs and benefits of working within (versus outside of) formal politics; framing rhetoric to reach wider audiences; the virtues and drawbacks of confrontational direct action; public apathy towards “health” issues; oppositional movements at complete odds with theirs; and more recently, the potential of social media.
This course also contains a skills component, where students will learn basic legislative, legal, and media research that can aid advocacy efforts.