HYM5370 - Fantasies of the flesh: The body in history

Leader(s): Dr Michael Hau

Offered

Not offered in 2009

Synopsis

The unit draws on work from a wide range of historical fields. Students will analyse how representations of the body and practices centred on the body (eg. exercising, tattooing etc.) have influenced people's understandings of class, race, and gender. In discussing the representations of grotesque, normal, and beautiful bodies, the unitexplores mechanisms of symbolic inclusion and exclusion from imagined communities. The relationship between the reproductive and productive bodies of men and women will be another focus. In addition, the unit will discuss the enabling of the body and mind through modern practices of performance enhancement.

Objectives

Students who have completed the unit will

1. Be able to distinguish between different approaches in the historiography dealing with the body
2. Know how to critically assess these approaches
3. Discuss their heuristic potential
4. Formulate their own positions on key issues based on a critical engagement with the historiography and relevant primary sources.
5. Be able to review monographs published in the field
6. Develop an independent research project in the field
7. Situate their own work within larger historiographical debates

Assessment

Written work: 90%
Tutorial participation: 10%

Contact hours

Twelve 2-hour seminars

Prohibitions

HSY4370,HYM4370