Welcome to the Center for Curriculum Transformation resource page for studying Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder. The information on this site is intended for everyone – students, faculty, staff and community members – utilizing the book during the 2006-2007 academic year in the classroom, reading groups, or other activities.
Mountains Beyond Mountains offers many vistas onto a vast and complex world – one that encompasses history as well as science, differences of language and culture, as well as stark inequalities, commitment as well as cruelty. The UW chose Mountains Beyond Mountains to inspire students to become scholars and active participants in shaping an equitable global society. A group of us – faculty and students – worked together this past year to create study notes to assist you in your journey through the pages of this book into a world of possibilities for social justice and action. We hope you will find our work useful in your exploration of Mountains Beyond Mountains.
– The Common Book Seminar Faculty & Students
Letter to UW Students
From Madeleine Marie Clifford (Pre-Major, Arts & Sciences), Jennifer Brittany Moore (Sophomore, Comparative History of Ideas), and Cecilia Venzon (Senior, Nursing, Bothell)
Study Notes
Each study note provides learning objectives, analysis and commentary, suggestions for further readings and, in some cases, courses that explore the topics in greater detail.
Difference, Identity and Power
Dr. Anu Taranath, Department of English
Explaining Difference: “Culture,” “Structural Violence,” and Medical Anthropology
Dr. Janelle Taylor, Department of Anthropology
Citizenship Across Borders
Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren, Performance Studies, Bothell
Are We Responsible for the Suffering of Others?
Dr. Nancy Jecker, Department of Medical Ethics and History
Moral Obligation in Mountains Beyond Mountains: What Are Our Responsibilities to Strangers?
Dr. Sara Goering, Department of Philosophy, and Dr. Audrey Young, Department of Medicine
Globalization and Paul Farmer’s Reframing of Care
Dr. Matt Sparke, Department of Geography
- Literature Review: How Research on Globalization Explains Structural Violence
- Literature Review: What Postcolonial Theory Tells Us about Haitian History and Struggle
Unequal Global Exchange: Colonization, Politics, and Economics
Amy Bhatt, Department of Women Studies
Poverty and Health
Dr. Jane Huntington, Department of Family Medicine
HIV, AIDS, and the “Great Epi Divide”
Dr. Jane M. Simoni, Department of Psychology
Service, Activism, and Mountains Beyond Mountains
Dr. Ron Krabill, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, Bothell