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GEOG 185: MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY

nd
2 Semester 2014-2015
Instructor: Kristian Saguin, PhD

Email: kcsaguin@up.edu.ph

Office: WF 8-10; 1-2:30; 4-5:30 pm FC 405

Course Description: Ecological, spatial and social approaches in understanding the geographic aspects of diseases, health and
health care systems. The course is handled in both lecture and seminar formats.
Course Objectives: At the end of the semester, students are expected to:
1. Understand geographic perspectives on diseases, health, care and well-being
2. Develop critical skills in thinking geographically about medical and health issues
3. Appreciate the role and relevance of geographic approaches in investigating medical and health issues.
Course requirements:
Exams (30%): Two exams will cover all lectures and required reading materials discussed and assigned in class. Exam items will
be in essay and/or short answer formats.
Research Proposal (40%): With a partner, you will develop a research proposal on any topic in medical and health geography. In
close consultation with me, developing the proposal entails identification of a topic, abstract and an initial list of articles (5%),
and submission of a literature review (10%) halfway through the semester. The final proposal (20%) will also be presented (5%)
at the end of the semester. You may access the journals Health & Place and Social Science & Medicine for possible topics.
Class Facilitation (10%): Students will facilitate one seminar session. Facilitation tasks include introducing the topic, providing
relevant context, formulating discussion questions and promoting participation from students during the seminar session.
Class Participation (20%): Students are expected to participate in class discussions, particularly during the seminar sessions.
Grade Equivalents: 1.0 = 96-100% 1.25 = 90-95%
= 67-69%
2.75 = 64-66% 3.0 = 60-63%

1.5 = 85-89%
4.0=55-59

1.75 = 80-84%
5.0 = 0-54%

2.0 = 75-79%
2.25 = 70-74%
No grade of INC will be given

2.5

Course Readings:
Most of our readings will be taken from the two volumes below. These and other materials are available through UVLe.
Brown, T., McLafferty, S., and Moon, G. 2010. A Companion to Health and Medical Geography. Wiley-Blackwell, MA.
rd

Meade, M.S. and Emch, M. 2010. Medical Geography, 3 edition. Guilford Press: New York and London.
UVLe Access:
I will use the UVLe system (uvle.upd.edu.ph) to manage the course. Please make sure you have access to UVLe. Use the key
geog185 to enroll yourself in the course. Inform me immediately if you cannot gain access to the course on UVLe.
Class Policies:
Attendance and tardiness: You are allowed a maximum of 6 excused/unexcused absences. Please present medical forms for
excused absences. Please come to class on time. All late submissions will be deducted 10% of total score per day.
Academic Honesty: I do not tolerate any form of dishonesty, whether cheating, plagiarism or submitting other peoples work.
Class Behavior: Please practice common courtesy during class hours (e.g., keep phones in your pockets and your laptops in your
bags; refrain from reading for other classes and from engaging in non-class conversations).
Other Issues: Feel free to email me or meet me during office hours if you have any other concerns or problems.

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Course Outline:
DATE
21 Jan
23 Jan
28 Jan
30 Jan

4 Feb
6 Feb

TOPIC
Part 1: Introduction
Introduction
Film
Health and Medical
Geography
Health and Medical
Geography
Part 2: Diseases
Human Ecology of
Disease
Human Ecology of
Disease

11 Feb

Spatialities of Disease

13 Feb

Spatialities of Disease

18 Feb
20 Feb

Spatialities of Disease
Spatialities of Disease

27 Feb

Ecologies of Disease

4 Mar

Ecologies of Disease

6 Mar

Ecologies of Disease

11 Mar

Ecologies of Disease

13 Mar

Exam 1
Part 3: Health
Political Ecologies of
Health
Political Ecologies of
Health
Landscapes of
Health/Despair

18 Mar
20 Mar
25 Mar

27 Mar

Cultural Geographies
of Health:
Embodiment

8 Apr

Governing un/healthy
populations

REQUIRED READING MATERIAL (*Optional)

Course Syllabus
Soderbergh 2011 Contagion
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 1 Questions of medical
geography
Kearns and Collins 2010 Health geography (in Brown)
Mayer 2010 Medical geography (in Brown)
Dorn et al 2010 Doubting dualisms (in Brown)

DUE DATE/FACILITATOR

Lecture
FAC: c/o KS

*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 2 The human ecology of

disease
Mech and Root 2010 Emerging and re-emerging
diseases (in Brown)
Donovan and Duncan 2010 Situating politics in health
and medical geography (in Brown)
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 3 Maps and GIS in medical
geography
Rican and Salem 2010 Mapping disease (in Brown)
Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 12 Scale, spatial analysis and
geographic visualization
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 10 Disease diffusion in space
Sabel et al 2010 Infectious disease diffusion (in Brown)
Gould 2010 Modeling chronic disease (in Brown)
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 4 Landscape epidemiology
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch. 5 Transitions and
development
Oppong and Harold 2010 Disease, ecology and
environment (in Brown)
Jerrett et al 2010 An environmental health geography of
risk (in Brown)
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 6 Climate and weather:
influences on health
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 7 The pollution syndrome
Elliott 2010 Environment, perception and resistance (in
Brown)
Curtis and Oven 2012 Geographies of health and climate
change

Lecture

*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 8 Political ecology of

noncommunicable diseases
King 2010 Political ecologies of health
OReilly and Louis 2014 Toilet tripod
*Williams 2010 Therapeutic landscapes as health
promoting places (in Brown)
*DeVerteuil and Evans 2010 Landscapes of despair (in
Brown)
Del Casino 2010 Living with and experiencing disease (in
Brown)
Sothern and Dyck 2010 Sex and gender in health
geography (in Brown)
*Brown and Watson 2010 Governing un/healthy
populations (in Brown)
*Kearns 2007 The History of Medical Geography After
Foucault
*Twigg and Cooper 2010 Healthy behavior (in Brown)

Lecture

FAC 1:

Lecture
FAC 2:

Lecture
FAC 3:
Lecture
Due: List of 10 journal articles
FAC 4:

Lecture

FAC 5:

FAC 6:
Lecture

FAC 7:

Lecture
Due: Final topic and abstract

10 Apr

Un/healthy bodies

15 Apr

Public Health:
neighborhoods

17 Apr

Public Health:
inequalities

22/24/
29 Apr
6 May

Research break

8 May

Public Health: health

care

13/15/
20May

Presentation of
research proposals
Exam 2 (take home)

Public Health: health

care

*Chouinard 2010 Impairment and disability (in Brown)

Craddock and Brown 2010 Representing the un/healthy
body (in Brown)
Parr and Davidson 2010 Mental and emotional health (in
Brown)
*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 9 Neighborhoods and health
*Ellaway and Macintyre 2010 Neighborhoods and health
(in Brown)
*Curtis et al 2010 Health geography and public health (in
Brown)
Kulkarni and Subramanian 2010 Social perspectives on
health inequalities (in Brown)
Boyle and Norman 2010 Migration and health (Brown)

*Meade and Emch 2010 Ch 11 Health care and

promotion
*Barnett and Copeland 2010 Providing health care
*Ricketts 2010 Accessing health care (in Brown)
*Tanser et al 2010 Location-allocation planning
Milligan and Power 2010 The changing geography of
care (in Brown)
Andrews et al 2010 Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (in Brown)

FAC 8:

Lecture

FAC 9:

Lecture
Due: Literature review

FAC 10: