ENG-W 350 #7771 meets MWF 1:25-2:15p in BH 222
ENG-W 350 Going Public: Writing Health and Healthcare in the U.S. is an IW Service-Learning course that aims to cultivate the public communicator and social entrepreneur in students. It invites students to practice and expand their skills in writing, persuasion, and critical analysis through service and research in the community. As students find their own voices in going beyond the classroom to address public issues, they also help the people they serve find their voices. Students also come to understand the power--and dangers--of language in creating and transforming publics. They become aware of the uses that electronic communications afford, and the responsibility that comes with any attempt to manage and disseminate information.
Readings and discussions will emphasize the human dimensions of health and healthcare, from the personal, motivational aspects of being and staying healthy, to the emotional as well as financial costs of diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, and quality of life considerations in the recovery process or at the end of life. In particular, the writings of Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom and other public intellectuals will provide a framework for reflection, as students learn to think of community resources as a commons, of trust and reciprocity as the basis for collective action, of polycentric governance, and of sustainable systems.
In essence, students will be developing the critical literacy necessary to understand the causes and impact of social issues from local arenas all the way to the global. The aim is to seed the kind of collective action that will enable individuals and families to co-produce their health within their communities, local and extended, as a key component to improving health and healthcare in the United States.
