Reading the Body
F05
Miroslava Prazak, Susan Sgorbati
Should boys be robust and ruddy? Should girls be wan, lithe, and prone to vapors? Unlike the Western biomedical constructions of the body, a cultural constructionist approach accepts the body, the self, and the person as culturally shaped, constrained, and invented. We will explore how social values and hierarchies are written in, on, and through the body; the relationship between body and (gender) identity; and the experiences and images of the body cross-culturally. Our bodies and our perception of them constitute an important part of our sociocultural heritage, and throughout life we undergo a process of collectively sanctioned bodily modification that serves as an important instrument for our socialization. Alternating between discussion and experiential classes, students will read and discuss texts on the social construction of the body and examine the basis for movement—our anatomical structure—and how this is socially modified.