Syllabus

Imagining The Body

ANTH 3325

Spring 2014

Professor Laurie Greene

Meets:
F207

M/W 12:45-2:00

This is a hybrid course which requires 2 hours of experiential work outside of the classroom each week, in addition to the scheduled meeting times.

Office Hours:

C107
t/th 10:30-12 noon

m/w 2:00-2:30

or by appointment

Contact Information:

Email is best! laurie.greene@stockton.edu (put “ANTH 3325” in the subject line)

Emergencies only!!!! (text) 6092146596

Do not leave a message on the Stockton phone 6096524564

We often take our bodies for granted as self-evident and natural, and yet what a body is and can do exceeds its purely biological limits. Through an examination of ethnographic, historical, and philosophical texts this course gives sustained attention to the body as an anthropological & sociological problem.

What is the body, and how can we decode the meanings that are inscribed on it by our everyday practices (wearing makeup, working out) and our choices of decorative markers (clothing, tattoos, piercings)? How do culture and society attribute meaning to the body to make sense of the world and achieve social control? We will begin to consider these questions through texts, films, and dialogue in class. The class will emphasize a cross-cultural examination of these topics, including an exploration of the theoretical paradigms with which we can make sense of our bodily experience.

Texts:

1. The Body in Society, (Alexandria Howson) 2nd Edition. 
2. The Body, A Reader (Miriam Fraser & Monica Greco) eds.
3. Autobiography of a Face,  (Lucy Grealy)
4. Fat: The Anthropology off an Obsession (Don Kulick& Ann Meneley) eds.

SYLLABUS & READING LIST:

I. What is a Body? Culture and The Human Body (1/23)

             Howson: Introduction, pp. 1-15

II. The Body in Everyday Life: Theories and Understandings of Embodiment

           Howson, Chapter 1 (1/27-29)

THEORIES

-Communicative body & Face Work (symbolic Interactionism of Goffman)

     The Body, a Reader: Chapters 6 and 8 (1/27)

          Body work/Body Techniques

-Body norms and stigma (Durkheim)

          Disability

            The Body, a Reader: Chapter 23, 24, and 25 (1/29)

-Phenomenology & Corporeality (Merleau-Ponty)

The Body, a Reader: Chapter 2 and 6 (2/3)

          Embodiment

BODY IMAGE

FAT chapters: Ideal, Talk (2/3)

III. The Face: Self Image and the Face of Culture
            Autobiography of a Face (Grealy) (2/5)

*****THURSDAY, 2/6 4:30--- Extra Credit Event on Human Trafficking

IV. The Body, Male & Female: Distinguishing, Creating & Maintaining Sex & Gender
            Howson, Chapter 2 (2/10)

            -MALE & FEMALE

            The Body, a Reader: Chapter 5 (2/10)

           Gendering the body

           Issues of femininity

            “The Sperm and the Egg” (Emily Martin-XEROX) (2/12)

            The Body, a Reader: Chapter 17 and 20, (2/12)

           Issues of masculinity

“Scars” (Masters XEROX) (2/17)

-SEXUALITY & THE BODY

The Body, a Reader: Chapter 13 (2/17)

         Transgender
“Envisioning the Body…” (Plemons XEROX) (2/19)                            

-Initiation
-Circumcision-male & female

V. The Civilized Body: Controlling What is “Natural”

Howson, Chapter 3 (2/24)

BODY TABOOS

-Concealment & Revelation

                     Nudity

“The Naked Self…Cybersex” (Waskul, XEROX)(2/26)

FAT, Chasers and Porn (2/26)

-Body as a natural state

         Pregnancy & Birth

“Pregnanacy, Birth and Mothering” (Katz-Rothman, XEROX) (3/3) 

-Pollution and the body (Mary Douglas)

The Body, a Reader: Chapter 7 (3/3)

                     Hair

“Manscaping” (Immergut, XEROX)(3/3)

-Feet, their Meanings & Manipulations

         Food & Body boundaries

FAT : Heavenly (3/5)

            The Body, a Reader: Chapter 14 (3/5)

Midterm Essays Due Friday March 7 (emailed in approved format by midnight)

Spring Break: March 8-16

VI. Race, Ethnicity & The Body: The Body & Identity
.           Sander, “The Racial Nose” (Sander, XEROX) (3/17)

            “…More Than My Hair…” (Patton, XEROX) (3/17)

            The Body, a Reader: Chapters, 19, 21 and 34 (3/19)

***FRIDAY & SATURDAY March 21 or 22 THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES---Extra Credit Event 7:00pm either night

VII. Selling the Body: The Body in Consumer Culture

            Howson, Chapter 4 (3/24)

            SELLING CLASS

            FAT (Leaky) (3/24)

            SELLING IMAGE

            The Body, a Reader: Chapters 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41) (3/26)

            SELLING COVER

            “The Social Skin” (Turner, XEROX) (3/31)

            MEDIA & THE BODY

            “Extreme Bodies” (Koust, XEROX) (3/31)

            “The Tanned Body” (Vannini & McCright, XEROX) (3/31)

            “Drug Addicts Bodies” (Huggins, XEROX) (3/31)

Topics to be considered in the readings above:

-Body maintenance and health

            -Visual appearance

            -Physical capitol

      Male body

     Female body

-Advertising

-Body modification

     Cosmetics & clothing

     Tattooing

     Piercing

     Foot binding

                 scarring

     painting (& cosmetics)

-Slenderness and eating disorders

-Exercise

-Body normalization (sexual ambiguity?)

Preceptorial Advising Wednesday April 2

Due: Social Skin Essay (4/4)

VIII. Regulating the Body: Control and Social Structure

            Howson, Chapter 5 (4/7)

            FAT Chaos (4/7)

            “Real-Time Fetus” (Rapp, XEROX) (4/9)

            The Body, a Reader: Chapters 12, 20 & 27 (4/14)

         Birth

         Medical gaze (Foucoult)

         Disease

              AIDS

     ***** Field Trip to Mutter Museum in Philadelphia (4/16)

IX. Vulnerable Bodies: The Life Course & Technology

            Howson, Chapter 6 (4/21)

            PAIN & ILLNESS

            The Body, a Reader: Chapters  45 & 46 (4/21 )

            AGEING

            The Body, a Reader: Chapters  15 & 28 (4/23 )

            STEALING THE BODY

            “Immortalized Cell Lines” (Lock, XEROX) (4/23)

            “Death & Organ Transplantation” (Haddow, XEROX) (4/23)

         organ donation & theft

cell lines & Henrietta Lacks

         Embryos and sperm and a Uterus for sale

-Death

                     euthanasia & life support

4/28 NO CLASS: preparation

PRESENTATIONS: 4/30  (Final Project Presentations in class)

Due: Body Ethics Essay (5/1)-emailed

Assignments & Grading

There will be a total of 100 points given for your work in this class. They will be divided as follows:

Attendance, Participation and Reading Preparation:                               20 points

Midterm (Theories and Paradigms) (online 3/7)                                    30 points
Social Skin Essay (emailed 4/4)                                                                15 points

Body Ethics Essay (emailed 5/1)                                                                15 points
Final Project: The Body: An Experience in “Rehabituation” (4/30)       20 points

Class Format

            Each class period runs from 12:45-2:00 Mondays and Wednesdays. Fridays we will not meet on campus, but you will be expected to engage in a “body practice” that is “new to you” for 2 hours each week, so that you may write about it for your final paper (35 points). This class depends on the foundational reading that you are assigned and so, you must read and prepare to discuss the material ON THE DATE indicated in the syllabus. This is a new class, so we will be struggling to make sense of this material together. Discussion and analysis is critical to this class and everyone will be expected to talk on a regular basis. You will be able to prepare for reading and discussion by checking out the discussion outlines, lectures and other material on the BLOG (imaginingthebody.blogspot.com).

You will also be asked to view some FILMS outside of class and come prepared to discuss these films as they relate to the assigned course material. So, in addition to class attendance, you will be required to do the following outside of class each week to fulfill the requirements for this hybrid course:

1.     2 hours of a “body practice” of your choice, making observations and taking notes about this experience and how it affects your sense of self, and the theoretical understandings of the body in culture.

2.     Film viewing (  times) when assigned. Links will be supplied on the blog when available.

a.     Dirty, Pretty Things (vulnerable bodies and commodification)

b.     Good Hair (body as metaphor and ethnic identity)

c.      Likeness (body image & dismorphia) http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/now-screening-a-shocking-short-film-about-body-image-starring-elle-fanning/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 

d.     About the body (

e.     Boys Don’t Cry   (Making the body & Gender)

f.      Feed (taboo and sexuality)

g.     I may add more!!!!! J