Sociology and Criminology

The Body (Spr)

Module code: L4118B
Level 6
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

On this module, you’ll explore international questions around the body.

You’ll address topical debates on:

• bodily materiality and performativity
• the work of authors such as Goffman, Bourdieu, Fanon, Arendt, Butler and Puar
• state regulation through torture and maiming of “undesirable bodies”, such as asylum seekers, refugees and non-binary
• gendered aspects of regulating bodies, such as war rape, torture, nationalism, populism and the sexing of the nation
• the vulnerability of the body, including physical decay and abuse
• attempts to retake control of the way the body has been controlled by states
• societal debates and activism around identity
• the rise of rights claims around embodiment, such as cutting hair by protesters in Iran.

You’ll examine materiality vs. constructionism to debate bodily abuse, integrity, rights and control. You’ll use current affairs alongside research, journalism and novels to explore the vulnerability and power of the body.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of classical and contemporary theories of the body.
• Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of case studies rights claims around the body.
• Apply the theoretical concepts/frameworks covered in the module to empirical examples, in order to critically analyse these examples.
• Critically assess the dominant conception of the body as socially constructed and engage in the idea of the body as having real, material constraints.