Health Science and the Replication Crisis: Anthropological Perspectives

ANTHRO 1829 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Over the last two decades, health scientists have grown increasingly concerned about a perceived methodological crisis centered on the reliable replication of research findings—a crisis exacerbated in the United States by growing public mistrust in health science and, more recently, government efforts to intervene in the independence of scientific institutions and knowledge production practices. This seminar draws on anthropological perspectives to examine critically what has come to be known as the "replication crisis" in health science. Framing the crisis both as a moment of danger and of radical possibility, together we will explore how debates over replication illuminate deeper questions regarding the nature, stakes, and commitments of health science and its objects of study, as mediated through themes of representation, causality, error, epistemic virtue, risk, uncertainty, and objectivity. In doing so, we will consider how scientific authority is constructed and contested; how the replication crisis affects public trust, lay participation, and broader engagements with health and science; and unexpected opportunities the crisis may present to advance the cause of health equity. Through ethnographic readings, case studies, and interdisciplinary scholarship, students will analyze the drivers of the crisis and consider its implications for the future of scientific knowledge-making and health care delivery. This class is intended for undergraduates and graduate students with an interest in the anthropology of biomedicine, social medicine, the history of science and medicine, and science and technology studies.