The body is a shifting signifier: gendered, raced, classed, sexualized, discursively constructed, materially impacted, its dimensions and interpretations are multiple and constantly shifting. This graduate-level seminar will explore the ways in which the body is inscribed in culture via various theories of the body, from the biological to the postmodern and the virtual. In this class, we will read major theorists of corporeality, including Judith Butler, Elizabeth Grosz, Donna Haraway, Susan Bordo, Michel Foucault, Rom Harré, and others, and interrogate the ways in which the corporeal has been rhetorically constructed in scholarly texts, in popular culture, and in everyday life. Seminar requirements include regular reading, written and verbal responses to assigned texts, and a final scholarly paper.
Course Instructor(s):
Meenakshi G Durham
