COS3070

Bodily representations

Chris Atmore

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives The subject aims to introduce students to the idea that there is no such thing as `the body', but rather that there is a huge range of different bodies, involved in different social and political processes, and importantly shaped by history, society and culture; introduce students to a range of theories about the ways bodies are represented and involved in societies, and how these ways might relate to the specific society concerned; focus on how these different theories can be applied in analysing bodily representations, first via specific seminar topics, and second via the student's own research which they carry out using the critical skills they have developed; help students to develop and build on a working knowledge of some important contemporary debates in work on bodies, including some critical evaluation of competing theoretical frameworks; and develop and consolidate in students the critical skills necessary for presenting their arguments to others in seminars and in written form.

Synopsis This subject begins from the premise that the ways in which human bodies are represented in societies can tell us a great deal about the structures and cultural values of those societies. Social processes act on bodies, and in doing so, construct both our bodies and our ideas about what bodies actually are. These representations of bodies feed back into ideas about society, such as dominant views about the nature of a desirable social order. Taking as theoretical backdrop the stance that there is no natural body outside specific social contexts, we examine specific aspects of cultural representations of human bodies, in the context of some overlapping themes: the disciplined and scientifically studied body, the sexed and sexualised body, the exotic body and the racially marked body. Topic areas we will look at relevant to these themes include debates in social and especially feminist theory, over how to understand bodies and why this matters intellectually and politically; common sex and gender distinctions in Western cultures and how these are challenged by transgendered individuals; and the sexual and racial politics of medicine and science.

Assessment Seminar paper (2000 words): 40%
* Essay (4000 words): 60%

Recommended texts

Butler J Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity Routledge, 1990
Grosz E Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism Indiana U P, 1994
Shilling C The body and social theory Sage, 1993