Course: Representations of the Body

This course challenges students to examine how depictions of bodies have real-world consequences for the ways we relate to our bodies, interact with one another, and navigate the larger structures that regulate bodies (such as healthcare systems). Through the analysis of a variety of visual, written, and/or musical texts, we will examine the roles that institutions, disciplines, and media outlets play in constructing and circulating narratives about the body, as well as the implications of these narratives in our cultural understanding of health and disease. Research questions that will guide our approach include: How do different disciplines (such as medicine, engineering, the arts, etc.) shape representations of bodies? How is disease depicted, and by whom? Who decides what qualifies as “healthy” vs. “unhealthy?” How are nonvisible entities like the mind or spirit depicted in relation to the body? How might bodies be defined as “natural” or “enhanced,” and who makes this distinction?