Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Black Resistance and Health: Interventions and Social Change

Course Description

This course will examine how Black communities have resisted the impact of colonialism, racism, and
other determinants of health. Specifically, this course will firstly examine pre-colonial African/Black
Indigenous health practices, and the ways in which Black communities have created interventions to change
the historical/herstorical and contemporary health impacts of the transatlantic slave trade, and the
compounded effects of multiple social determinants of health. This course will showcase Canadian and
transnational case examples looking at multi-level interventions.

Course Objectives

Students completing this course will be able to demonstrate:

1. Their learning on how to communicate, present, and lecture (address) on Black population health
   using resistance-centred interventions to support social change.
2. How resistance-centred interventions and social change praxis are made and implemented, as well as
   their impact on intersectional Black populations.
3. Understanding of national and global resistance practices and their connections to Black Health.
4. Different types of resistance analysis methods and tools.
5. How resistance praxis can support Black health transnationally.
6. Ground-breaking practices that support the wellness of African/Black populations and Black public
   health transnationally.
7. Critical understanding on anti-Black racism and colonialism and the impact of resistance centred
   health interventions on the health of African/Black populations from an intersectional, anti-racist,
   anti-oppression, anti-colonial framework.
8. Knowledge of key issues related to resistance and social change with African/Black populations.
9. How to develop and create resistance centred intervention strategies and practices for Black
   communities.
10. How to engage creatively and critically with critical Black health resistance-centred practices.

Methods of Assessment

(PSA) Video and presentation for Resistance and Social change	35%
Land and Ancestral Acknowledgment Creation (LAAC)	5%
Reflection paper and transnational/transgenerational resistance map	10%
Wellness plan and Resource kit	15%
Resistance Paper/Project	25%
Participation	10%