History Of The Body

The body has become a focal point of a variety of cultural and political discourses and practices in modern society. Based on major literature in the history of the body, this course aims at leading you to deepen your perspectives on the body and its social and philosophical underpinnings. Why do we need to take care of our body? How and why were Asia and Europe so different in understanding and describing the body? In what place has the body been placed in the changing cultural landscape of the globalizing world? What has been the true nature of corporal punishment and torture on the body? Why do many people today check the number of dietary calories to maintain a slender body? What is the impact of developing technologies upon our body and its social implication? By asking and answering these questions, you will be able to broaden their historical understanding of the body, which shall also contribute to their scholarship in history and other disciplines.