THE PERFECTIBLE BODY IN RELIGIONS, MEDICINES, AND POLITICS

GEN&WS/HISTSCI/MEDHIST 532

This course demonstrates that human bodies have social and cultural histories. It will highlight the social values placed on different bodies, the changing social expectations bodies create, and the role of science and medicine in creating the cultural meanings of bodies.

HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212

A survey of different conceptions of how the body as a site of sickness has been understood from Antiquity to contemporary medicine. Includes consideration of the origins and evolution of public health, the changing social role of healers, and the emergence of the modern "standardized" body in health and illness.

ASIAN/RELIGST 218

Study primary and secondary sources to explore how South Asian societies have understood the ideas of health and well-being throughout history. We will consider a number of cases that illustrate uniquely South Asian conceptions of illness and physical dysfunction and the ways in which people in South Asia have attempted (and continue to attempt today) to heal bodies. Students will learn about the traditional healing systems of South Asia, including Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani, the basic components of each systems' ideas about disease pathology and treatment that have been used for centuries to heal illness, maintain good health, and, in some instances, aspire to a state of super-health that transcends the limitations of bodily existence altogether.

GEN&WS 423

Explores the social, cultural, and political construction of the female/feminine body. Considers specifically the bodies of women and girls, transgender women, non-binary people that embody the feminine, female masculinities, and bodies that identify and are identified as female, as bodies that have historically and traditionally been sites of political contention, of societal meaning making, of cultural symbolism, and active resistance. Seeks to challenge what we think we know about bodies, challenging tacit knowledge and investigating how normative discourses of the female/feminine body are formed across cultures, around the world. Considers the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, neoliberalism, "global" feminism, imperialism, capitalism, and human rights movements on cultural conceptions of health, ability, beauty, representation, and the "value" of female/feminine bodies.

RELIGST 102

An introduction to the study of religion through the lens of health and health through the lens of religion employing approaches from the humanities and social sciences in conversation with health-related disciplines. It asks questions such as, How do religious peoples understand and live in sickness and health? How do people connect physical well-being to spiritual well-being? Medicine to meaning-making? How does looking at religion in sickness and health provide insight into its roles in a variety of cultures and contexts, globally and locally? How do health and religion connect particularly in situations of social marginalization and immigration? How does religion impact understandings of health and sickness beyond the borders of specific religious communities?