Women,Gender,Sexuality Studies 295R - S- Reading the Body

This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of "the body" through the intersectional lens of women's, gender, sexuality studies, critical race theory, social justice feminism, dis/ability studies, and queer theory. What is the body and how is it shaped by and also entangled in systems of power? In what ways is the body a political battleground and site for feminist struggle and resistance? How do we define "deviant" and/or "pathological" bodies and which bodies get to count as "normal"? How does our understanding of Nature and Culture, science and technology structure our beliefs about the body and gender, sexuality and race? The course will explore a range of topics, including: Racial politics and reproductive justice; Gender-based violence, rape culture, and feminist activism; "Somatechnics," cosmetic surgery and other forms of body modification; Dis/ability, dis-ease, and embodiment; Discipline, bio-power, surveillance, and the modern body; Race, gender, sexuality and the carceral state; Mass media, visual culture, and commodity capitalism; Transnational bodies and the politics of labor and migration; trans* politics and queer materialisms.