Human Body

Catalog description

When looking at paintings of Rubens, pictures of fashion models, prehistoric Venus figurines or Greek sculptures, it is obvious that the appreciation for the human body has changed drastically through space and time. These differences of perception can generate inter-individual and cultural tensions and affect public policy, for example in the context of health care policy and equal opportunity in the work place. This course will examine how our understanding of human physiology, genetics, and development, as well as methods of investigations of human anatomy, have shaped the perception of the human body, through history, and across cultures. Students will examine the function of the body and how the understanding of bodily functions has changed (the working body). The course will also delve into the modifications the human body has experienced evolutionarily and how our own body is changing from a single cell until death (the changing body). Finally, it will examine deviations from the typical body plan and the causes for these deviations (the abnormal body). These topics will be explored using scientific and non-scientific literature, art, and movies.