Assignment Question
This assignment is the student’s opportunity to explore a public health crisis of their choice in depth, using a first-person account of history. The purpose of this assignment is to gather primary information from an individual then synthesize those findings with prior research and readings to support the overall understanding of a public health crisis. For this assignment students will identify an event or issue that could be described as a public health crisis (ask the instructor if the idea meets this definition).
Ideally, this event/issue will have occurred within the past 20-30 years, when people the students would know have been alive to experience it. Begin by researching the historical facts and context of the event/issue you selected:
When did the event take place? Where did it take place? Who were the key leaders or individuals involved in this event? What were the circumstances that led to this event taking place? How were people affected by it when it happened? Were there disparities – either in cause or effect or both – by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status? What evidence is there that supports your understanding that some groups experienced this public health crisis differently/inequitably? How did life change after the event took place? Why was this event significant to history? Then, write an interview protocol designed to elicit empirical evidence from someone who lived through this event/had this life experience.
Consider these suggestions as you write your interview protocol: Who do you know whose experiences of this event might have been different from what you found in your research? In what ways do you think the experience of the leaders or key figures in this event would be different from those of the people you know personally? Whose voices were/are missing from the various sources you used for your preliminary research? Were the experiences of certain groups (racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, immigrants, etc.) not included? Why or why not? What questions do you still have after doing your initial research? What surprised you about what you learned in your research? What else would you like to know? If you had been there when this event took place, what role would you have wanted to play? Who could you talk to who might have played a similar role?
You will write 5-10 interview questions, using your research (part A) and the thoughts/suggestions described here (part B).
