Susan Pitchford

This course looks at three extreme types of "social problems" -- you might say, "social catastrophes" -- that have created immense amounts of human suffering around the world, both historically and in the present-day. For each of these problems, we will be looking at both historical and contemporary examples, to see what we can learn from comparing different eras as well as different parts of the world:

Epidemics: The Black Death in 14th c. Europe and the current HIV/AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa;

Genocide: The genocide in Rwanda (1994) and the ongoing genocide in Darfur, plus other examples;

Slavery: In the ancient world, the American South and contemporary slavery throughout the world.

Each of these problems has shaped the world we live in, and analyzing them from a comparative perspective will help us learn the lessons they have to teach us, so we can prevent and respond to such problems more effectively in the future.