Time Schedule:
Matthew Sparke
JSIS 478
Seattle Campus
Content varies from quarter to quarter.
Class description
This class will examine a set of readings aimed at examining how global health policies, programs, and practices have been shaped by the rise of philanthrocapitalism. We will explore first the legacies of structural adjustment programs in the Global South as they relate to the societal determinants of health, including the impact of Washington Consensus ideas that “wealthier is healthier.” We will then turn to look in much more detail at the rise of a new Washington State Consensus that reverses the terms of the old DC consensus, suggesting instead that “healthier is wealthier.” Involving a new set of initiatives promoted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the new consensus would seem to address many of the destructive legacies of the old consensus articulated by DC-based advocates of neoliberalization. However, we will also read and reflect on a set of readings that suggest the new consensus is also neoliberal in its own biopolitical way: replacing the macro-economic neoliberalism of the old consensus with a new concern for micro-market making, micro-biological innovation, and micro-savings. What then, we will ask, are the implications for global health and global citizenship when it is reconceptualized through these new norms and practices of global governmentality?
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
