American Studies Program
Interdisciplinary Clusters in
American Studies
Health, Environment and Society
In the United States, as is true with other countries, health outcomes and environmental exposures tend to follow a social class gradient. People with higher socioeconomic statuses tend to be healthier and safer than those with lower ones, and within social classes, whites tend to be healthier and less exposed than other racial and ethnic groups. Health and the environment, thus both provide lenses for studying American society, forcing us to try to understand the reasons for these differences and to think through what can be done to mitigate them. For American Studies majors with an interest in health and/or environmental issues, this cluster is designed to guide this exploration of differences. Five courses complete this cluster. For specific questions regarding this cluster, please see Edith Balbach.
Requirements for the Health, Environment and Society cluster
Required: At least two courses that give on overview of issues related to health and/or environment, and society, selected from list below. At least one course from this list should have a strong policy focus.
| ANTH 148 |
Medical Anthropology |
| BIO 7 | Environmental Biology |
| CD 182 | Social Policies for Families and Children |
| CEE 137 | Introduction to Public Health |
| CEE 158 | Occupational and Environmental Health |
| CHEM 8 | Environmental Chemistry |
| CH 1 | Introduction to Community Health |
| CH 2 | Health Care in America |
| CH 189 | Seminar in Health Politics |
| EC 30 | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| ES 25 | Environment and Technology |
| GEO 2 | Environmental Geology |
| HIST 94 | Sickness and Health in America |
| HIST 7 | History of Public Health |
| PHIL 143 | Philosophy and Public Policy |
| PS 11 | Introduction to American Politics |
| PS 86 | Politics and the City |
| PS 102 | Congress, Bureaucracy, and Public Policy |
| SOC 10 | American Society |
| UEP/ENV 94 | Environmental Policy, Planning, and Politics |
| UEP/ENV 122 | Biotechnology: Social and Environmental Issues |
Required: At least two courses from the list below, at least one of which studies one population and/or issue in greater depth:
| AMER66/ENV 66 |
Representing the Environment |
| AMER 182 | Asian America |
| AMER 185 | Native American Issues |
| ANTH 149 | Evolutionary Medicine |
| ANTH 183 |
Urban Borderlands |
| BIO 2 | Biology and the American Social Contract |
| Bio 10 | Plants and Humanity |
| BIO 97 | Contemporary Biosocial Problems in America |
| CD 193 | Pediatric Psychology |
| CH 55 | Race, Ethnicity and Health |
| CH 104 | Women and Health |
| CH 106 | Health, Ethics, and Policy |
| CH 109 | Social Movements and Community Action in Public Health |
| CH 110 | Psychoactive Drugs |
| CH 183 | Religion, Health and Healing |
| CH 185 | Community Health and Drugs |
| CH 187 | Health Policy for Aging Populations |
| CH 188 | Health of New Immigrants |
| EC 48 | Health Economics |
| ED 1 | School and Society |
| ENG 160 | Environmental Justice in American Literature |
| ENV 91 | Environmental Preservation and Improvement |
| GEO 1 | The Dynamic Earth |
| GEO 2 | Environmental Geology |
| HIST 98 | The Immigrant in America |
| PHIL 48 | Feminist Philosophy |
| PHIL 124 | Bioethics |
| PHIL. 125 | Racism and Social Inequality |
| PS 13 | Race and Class in American Politics |
| PS 109 | Political Ethnicity and American Identity |
| PS 114 | Social Movements in American Politics |
| PS 195 | Topics: Aesthetics |
| PSY 55 | Human Sexual Behavior |
| PSY 56 | Drugs and Behavior |
| PSY 57 | Nutrition and Behavior |
| PSY 136 | Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination |
| SOC 130 | Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality |
| SOC 141 | Medical Sociology |
| UEP 181 | Homelessness in America |
| UEP 207 | Environmental Law |
| WS 72 | Introduction to Women’s Studies |