GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND THE BODY

Catalog description

This course will focus on the anthropological analysis of the body using cross-cultural comparisons in order to question the assumption of 'natural' sex, gender and sexuality. Bodies will be shown to be important symbols for individual and group expression, as they are always manipulated and interpreted by culture. Whether we are considering cyborg bodies, virtual bodies, tattooed and pierced bodies, or bodies surgically altered in a stunning variety of ways, we will be asking what is 'natural' and 'unnatural' about the assumed biological categories of male and female.