106-443 Body Cultures

Formerly available as 106-088. Students who have completed 106-088 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in English or cultural studies, see Honours entry.

This subject focuses on the ways in which 'the body' is culturally inscribed in a variety of contemporary and historic discourses. Understanding the body as an irreducibly material object, the subject analyses how the body comes to be meaningful within various discourses such as those of colonialism, epidemiology and cyberspace. The native body, the pregnant body, the fat body and the freak body will be considered as case studies. Students should develop a knowledge of the ways the body, both private and public, individualised yet heavily regulated, is a productive focus for thinking about the inscriptions of power in our everyday lives.

• be able to communicate effectively in oral and written contexts;

• demonstrate independent thought and critical argument;

• manage and organise workloads in relation to a specified timeframe.

An essay of 5000 words for 4th year students or 6000 words for masters students 100% (due at the end of the semester).