Health track

This interdisciplinary course is a survey of various popular and Indigenous medicinal systems that fall under the rubric known as Mexican Traditional Medicine (MTM). Mexican scholar Carlos Viesca Treviño defines MTM as medicinal knowledge(s) that emanate from Mesoamerican world views and that have adapted to historical and social conditions in the Americas. This course will explore various expressions of MTM, with a special emphasis on Indigenous medicinal approaches to healing that exemplify both continuities and adaptations.

A public health perspective in examining health and mental health issues affecting Latinos residing in the U.S., with particular emphasis on Mexican Americans.

This course provides and in-depth exploration on how social and cultural factors influence the health of racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations in the United States. The Socio-Cultural Determinants of Health are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations.

Traditional Indian Medicine, or TIM, is a concept that refers to Indigenous knowledges expressed through the varied healing systems in Indigenous communities. This course will pay particular attention to American Indian nations and healing knowledges that are intersecting and intertwined relationships with the natural world, the Indigenous body and the sacred. We will examine both how Indigenous healing systems have persisted as well as responded to social conditions, such as genocide, colonization and historical, as well as contemporary, forms of oppression.

Introduction to Mexican American studies from various perspectives. Research issues and interpretation in the field; public policy and Mexican origin populations; and social sciences and the professions and impact upon the Mexican American community.