AFST S350 / FILM S340 / HLTH S350:
Visual Approaches to Global Health (VAGH)
Yale University, Summer Session, Programs Abroad
Sat. June 4, 2022 - Sat. July 16, 2022
in Johannesburg, South Africa
with Dr. Jonathan Smith and Paul Blom
- A study-abroad course for Yale University summer session, taking place early summer 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Combines traditional epidemiological and public/global health study with visual literacy and storytelling methods.
- Potentially open to any undergraduate student at any institution. (Check with your home institution first to ensure you can receive transfer credit.)
- Enrollment is limited. Not all applicants will necessarily be admitted into the course.
- Approved by Yale University for 2 credits under the Social Sciences designation. (Check with your home institution for how such transfer credit will be accepted at your home institution.)
- All applicants should check with your financial aid counselor at your home institution for how you will fund this academic opportunity.
For more information and to apply, go to:
https://studyabroad.yale.edu/programs/yale-summer-session-johannesburg-visual.
Applications open Jan. 14, 2022; the deadline to apply is Feb. 15, 2022.
The instructors are hosting a virtual info session to answer your questions about the class on Tues. Feb. 1 at 4:00pm est. It is open to any students interested in the class. Here is the Zoom link: https://yale.zoom.us/j/95859773145.
For students at Paul's current home institution of UNC-Chapel Hill, this course is in the process of being approved for transfer credits through various departments in the College of Arts and Sciences and the general education requirements through the Office of Undergraduate Curricula. You should apply for transfer credit through the UNC Office of Admissions using the Course Evaluation Form.
- The African, African American and Diaspora Studies Department (AAAD) at UNC-Chapel Hill has approved this course for elective credit for anyone majoring or minoring in AAAD at UNC-Chapel Hill. You will still need to complete the Course Evaluation Form through the UNC Office of Admissions to receive such credit, but the course has already been approved, so you can assume your application for transfer credit will be approved.
- The Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill has approved this course for elective credit for anyone majoring or minoring in their programs at UNC-Chapel Hill. You will still need to complete the Course Evaluation Form through the UNC Office of Admissions to receive such credit, but the course has already been approved, so you can assume your application for transfer credit will be approved.
- The Hussman School of Journalism and Media (MEJO) at UNC-Chapel Hill has approved this course for elective credit for anyone majoring or minoring in their programs at UNC-Chapel Hill. You will still need to complete the Course Evaluation Form through the UNC Office of Admissions to receive such credit, but the course has already been approved, so you can assume your application for transfer credit will be approved.
- We will update this page as we receive responses from other departments, schools, etc.
Again, all applicants should check with your home institution for how such transfer credit will be accepted at your home institution. In addition, all applicants should check with your financial aid counselor at your home institution for how you will fund this academic opportunity.
UNC students: Even after applying for transfer credits through the UNC Office of Admissions, remember you still have to complete the actual application for the class through Yale. Apply here.
Course Overview:
Visual Approaches to Global Health is a novel global health course that explores the intersection between public health and visual media, where students will learn to analyze global health issues through the prism of film, media, and storytelling. Students will learn to understand global health and filmmaking not simply as a representative medium, but through the use of aesthetics and emotional narratives that reach a level of professionalism both as academic scholarship and as works of art.
Course Learning Objectives:
The course seeks to combine academic public health research with visual literacy in order to prepare students to better advance public health issues in a multimedia format. Students are educated on contemporary global health issues, as well as discuss the art of visual literacy in order to strategically advance global health issues.
By the end of the course, each student will possess the skills needed to:
- Identify ways visual media can explain complex global health scholarship and make it more accessible to the general public
- Analyze the research, theory, method of global health policy and epidemiology
- Identify arguments for global health issues in both literature and visual media, and discern methods that are appropriate for each
- Translate complex epidemiological data and research into a narrative, story driven message approachable by a wide audience
- Recognize ethical dynamics and considerations when working with individuals on public health issues
Course Format:
This course will be offered as a study abroad course in Johannesburg, South Africa. The course will be 6 weeks in total. Students will learn through a combination of traditional, didactic lectures and hands on “labs.” The daily course will be broken into two parts. The first half of the class will be a lecture on the week’s global health issue. Each week will address a contemporary global health issue, and how such an issue affects both the global and local community. The instructor will discuss the issue, epidemiology, and other aspects in both a global and local setting. Students will be required to have a firm academic understanding of the topic at hand, including knowledge of epidemiological methods, public health policy, and implementation. Strengths and weaknesses in the current approach to addressing the issue through traditional public health discourse will be analyzed. In the second part of the daily course, students will work in groups of 4-5 on a short film investigating a selected public health topic. Students will learn storytelling fundamentals and techniques, get hands-on learning in camera and sound operation, as well as editing and post production. Students will learn to analyze films and visual approaches to other global health issues that address contemporary global health topics. The lecture will break down components of the selected film or visual media as it pertains to public health, policy, and research. Students will discuss the methods used and approaches taken, as well as the effectiveness of advocacy efforts stemming from the film.
A typical day will have a 1h 15min lecture in the morning, and a hands-on lab in the early afternoon. By the end of the course, students are expected to have a firm grasp on analytical analysis of global health issues (academic literacy) and how to construct arguments through the medium of film (visual literacy).
Course Instructors:
Dr. Jonathan Smith, PhD, MPH (he/him)
Paul Blom, Yale Teaching Fellow, MA, PhD (candidate) (he/him)
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Previous summers with Visual Approaches to Global Health:
Summer 2019: Student course blog (daily reflections on the course)
Summer 2016: Video compilation of student cultural experiences
Summer 2015: Video compilation of student cultural experiences
Summer 2015: Student video reflection on the course
Summer 2014: Video glimpse into VAGH
Summer 2014: Student interviewing practice
This informational page was last updated on Mon. Feb. 7, 2022.
Credits:
Created with images by Engin_Akyurt - "coronavirus mask quarantine" • unerbul - "maps map world" • jarmoluk - "medications tablets medicine" • Paul Blom • Sarah Boyd • Jonathan Smith • Yale School of Public Health