The course introduces students to problems of epidemic disease and disorder worldwide, and considers various efforts to define and address these problems. The course is designed to offer students a robust survey of literature (both classic and contemporary) concerned with threats to human health––and in doing so, engages an array of social science research perspectives and practices.  The course considers the actors, institutions, and forms of knowledge at work in addressing epidemic disease and making “global health” today.  By exploring the cultural, environmental, social, political, and epidemiological factors that shape patterns of disease and disorder across and between societies, the course allows students to analyze the systems and values that reinforce specific paradigms of global health policy and science, historically as well as in our present