Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

Head games: the public health concussion crisis

Instructor(s): Denise Evert, Psychology

A scientific, ethical, social, and legal exploration of the public health concussion crisis. Are new developments in the science of diagnosing brain damage threatening multibillion industries like American football? Are worries about the effect of concussions overblown in the media? Why did the National Football League assume race differences when assessing impacts of brain injuries on its athletes? Which do we value more: watching sports games, or the safety of athletes? Can we attribute an individual’s act of violence towards others or self-harm to oneself (including suicide) to the effects of a neurodegenerative fatal brain disease found primarily in athletes with a history of repeated head trauma? Answering these, and other, questions, necessitates analysis of a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including neuroscience, psychology, medical science, social science, media and communication studies, ethics/bioethics, and law. Students will draw on scientific papers, popular press articles, and documentary media to make sense of these and other questions that lie at the center of the debate regarding concussion in sport. This course will culminate with a service-learning project in which students will design and disseminate public service announcements based on their newfound knowledge.

Course Offered:

• Fall 2022