Elroi J. Windsor
March 19, 2013
... 7 so that we can make arrangements for missed assignments.
Classroom Environment
In this class, we will openly discuss topics related to human bodies and embodiment. Some of the readings, videos, outings, and discussions in this course deal with sensitive material including, but not limited to, bodily functions and fluids, illness, nudity, sexuality, oppression, and vivid representations of body modifications, abortion, and death. This material may cause discomfort, and some people may find the material grotesque. If you think your discomfort could impede your engagement with class content, please come see me—this class may not be appropriate for you.
In addition to following the tenets set forth through Salem College’s Honor Code, please keep in mind that the student body is diverse. Refrain from making assumptions about who is or is not around you. We all have opinions, and it is okay to respectfully disagree with other people’s comments. It is also okay to engage in passionate discussion. It is not okay to engage in actions that are hostile, derogatory, and/or disrespectful. Students who express threatening or offensive remarks will be asked to leave and reported to the Honor Council.
Please monitor the amount of talking you do during class. I discourage discussion domination and encourage participation from quieter students. Please raise your hand to contribute to class, as calling out can be silencing to others who are less comfortable doing so. Phone use is not permitted, so please turn ringers off and put them away. Laptops are allowed for note-taking purposes only. Each class will include a 10-minute break. With that, let’s have fun and enjoy class!
COURSE CALENDAR
B = The Body Reader O = One of Us M = Moodle
January 3 (Th) Introductions
January 4 (F) What Is a Body?
Embodied Campus Tour – Dress warmly; wear comfortable shoes
M “Introduction” Chris Shilling, 2012, Pp. 1-20 in The Body and Social Theory, 3rd edition,
Los Angeles: SAGE.
B “Introduction: Not Just the Reflexive Reflex: Flesh and Bone in the Social Sciences”
Kosut and Moore 1-26
B “The Body’s Problems with Illness” Frank 31-47
January 7 (M) Common Embodiment
Leading Class:
M “The Human Face as Sociological Object,” Heather Laine Talley, 2008, Pp. 9-13 in
Face Work: Cultural, Technical, and Surgical Interventions for Facial “Disfigurement,”
PhD dissertation, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University. Retrieved
January 1, 2013 (http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07102008-
134713/).
M “Smell, Odor, and Somatic Work: Sense-Making and Sensory Management.” Dennis
D. Waskul and Phillip Vannini, 2008, Social Psychology Quarterly 71(1):53-71.
B “To Die For: The Semiotic Seductive Power of the Tanned Body” Vannini and
McCright 228-251
B “Manscaping: The Tangle of Nature, Culture, and Male Body Hair” Immergut 287-
304
M “Splitting Bodies/Selves: Women’s Concepts of Embodiment at the Moment of
Birth” Deborah Lupton and Virginia Schmied, 2012, Sociology of Health & Illness Vol.
20(10):1-14
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 8 (Tu) Hidden Embodiment
Leading Class:
M “Touching Gender: Abjection and the Hygienic Imagination,” Sheila L. Cavanagh,
2010, Pp. 134-68 in Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic
Imagination, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
M “Fecal Matters: Habitus, Embodiments, and Deviance,” Martin S. Weinberg and
Colin J. Williams, 2005, Social Problems 52(3):315-36.
M “The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma,” Ingrid Johnston-Robledo and
Joan C. Chrisler, 2013, Sex Roles 68(1-2):9-18.
M “Bare Bodies: Nudity, Gender, and the Looking Glass Body,” Martin S. Weinberg
and Colin J. Williams, 2010, Sociological Forum 25(1):47-67.
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 9 (W) Containing Bodies
Trip to Detention Center – meet in front of Main Hall at 10am
*M “Imprisoned Bodies: The Life-world of the Incarcerated,” Drew Leder, 2004, Social
Justice 31(1-2):51-66.
B “Scars” Masters 329-31
M “not-/unveiling as an ethical practice,” Nadia Fadil, 2011, Feminist Review 98:83-109.
M “A Rose by Any Other Name? Rethinking the Similarities and Differences between
Male and Female Genital Cutting,” Robert Darby and J. Steven Svoboda, 2007,
Medical Anthropology Quarterly 21(3):301-23.
M “The Anatomy of a Movement,” Kimberly J. Lau, 2011, Pp. 1-21 in Body Language:
Sisters in Shape, Black Women’s Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics, Philadelphia, PA:
Temple University Press.
January 10 (Th) Disorderly Bodies
Leading Class:
M “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde: How PMS Became a Cultural
Phenomenon and a Psychiatric Disorder,” Joan C. Chrisler and Paula Caplan, 2002,
Annual Review of Sex Research 13:274-306.
B “The Ana Sanctuary: Women’s Pro-Anorexic Narratives in Cyberspace” Dias 399-412
M “Fat Studies: Mapping the Field,” Charlotte Cooper, 2010, Sociology Compass
4(12):1020–34.
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 14 (M) Embodying Difference
Paper Issued Leading Class:
B “The Racial Nose” Gilman 201-27
B “Hey Girl, Am I More Than My Hair? African American Women and Their Struggles
with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair” Patton 349-66
M “Male Bodies in Manhood Acts: The Role of Body-Talk and Embodied Practice in
Signifying Culturally Dominant Notions of Manhood,” Christian Alexander
Vaccaro, 2011, Sociology Compass 5(1):65-76.
M “Navigating Public Spaces: Gender, Race, and Body Privilege in Everyday Life,”
Samantha Kwan, 2010, Feminist Formations 22(2):144-66.
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 15 (Tu) Bodily Anomalies
Leading Class:
M “Building Boxes and Policing Boundaries: (De)Constructing Intersexuality,
Transgender and Bisexuality,” Betsy Lucal, 2008, Sociology Compass 2(2):519-36.
M “Expecting Bodies: The Pregnant Man and Transgender Exclusion from the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” Paisley Currah, 2008, WSQ: Women’s Studies
Quarterly 36(3-4):330-6
B “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports” Peace 332-44
B “Chemically Reactive Bodies, Knowledge, and Society” Kroll-Smith and Floyd 124-40
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 16 (W) Selecting (Others’) Bodies
Trip to The Children‘s Center – meet at 9:30am
M “Selling Genes, Selling Gender: Egg Agencies, Sperm Banks, and the Medical Market
in Genetic Material,” Rene Almeling, 2007, American Sociological Review 72(3):319-40.
B “Am I Good Enough for My Family? Fetal Genetic Bodies and Prenatal Genetic
Testing” Karlberg 66-79
M “The ‘Ashley Treatment’: Towards a Better Quality of Life for ‘Pillow Angels,’”
Ashley’s Mom and Dad, 2012, 1-15, Retrieved January 1, 2013
(pillowangel.org/Ashley%20Treatment%20v7.pdf).
*M “Devaluing People with Disabilities: Medical Procedures that Violate Civil Rights,”
David Carlson, Cindy Smith, and Nachama Wilker, 2012, Pp. 5-6, 9-11, 19-30,
Retrieved January 1, 2013 (http://www.ndrn.org/en/media/publications/483-
devaluing-people-with-disabilities.html).
M “Cosmetic Surgery in Children with Cognitive Disabilities: Who Benefits? Who
Decides?” Douglas J. Opeland and Benjamin S. Wilfond, 2009, Hastings Center Report
39(1):19-21.
January 17 (Th) Working Bodies
Leading Class:
B “‘Made by the Work’: A Century of Laboring Bodies in the United States” Slavishak
147-63
M “The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean
Immigrant-Owned Nail Salons,” Miliann Kang, 2003, Gender & Society 17(6):820-39.
B “Incongruent Bodies: Teaching While Leaking” Moore 305-16
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 22 (Tu) Rethinking the Body
Leading Class:
O One of Us Dreger (complete book)
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 23 (W) Reflecting and Resisting Bodies
Leading Class:
M “Plastic People and Their Doctors,” Laurie Essig, 2010, Pp. 48-79 in American Plastic:
Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and Our Quest for Perfection, Boston MA: Beacon Press.
B “Fighting Abjection: Representing Fat Women” Kent 367-83
M “Shut up! Representations of the Latino/a Body in Ugly Betty and Their Educational
Implications,” Adriana Katzew, Latino Studies 9(2-3):300-20.
B “Extreme Bodies / Extreme Culture” Kosut 184-200
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 24 (Th) Trans-ing Bodies
Leading Class:
B “Envisioning the Body in Relation: Finding Sex, Changing Sex” Plemons 317-28
M “Transsexualism and ‘Transracialism,’” Christine Overall, 2004, Social Philosophy
Today 20:183-93.
M “Narrative Construction of a Ruptured Self: Stories of Transability on
Transabled.org,” Jenny L. Davis, 2012, Sociological Perspectives, 55(2):319-40.
M “The Mark of the Beast: Inscribing ‘Animality’ through Extreme Body Modification”
Annie Potts, 2007, Pp. 131-54 in Knowing Animals, edited by Laurence Simmons and
Philip Armstrong, Boston, MA: Brill.
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 28 (M) Cellular Embodiment
Exam (at beginning of class) Leading Class:
M “Embodying Race,” Dorothy Roberts, 2011, Pp. 123-46 in Fatal Invention: How Science,
Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-first Century, New York: The
New Press.
M “Definition of Epigenetics” and “Abuse Affects Genes,” Retrieved January 1, 2013
(http://www.epigenesys.eu/index.php/en/homepage).
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 29 (Tu) Beyond Bodies
Leading Class:
M “‘You Don’t Need a Body to Feel a Body’: Phantom Limb Syndrome and Corporeal
Transgression,” Cassandra S. Crawford, 2012, Sociology of Health & Illness 20(10):1-
15.
M “The Real Me: Selfhood in the Virtual World,” Cary Gabriel Costello, 2012, Pp. 187-
203 in Cult Pop Culture: How the Fringe Became Mainstream, Vol. 3, edited by Bob
Batchelor, Santa Barbara CA: Praeger.
B “The Naked Self: Being a Body in Televideo Cybersex” Waskul 252-81
M “Robots Say the Damnedest Things,” Jon Ronson, 2011, GQ, March, Retrieved
January 1, 2013 (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201103/robots-say-
the-damnedest-things).
M “Just Like a Woman,” Meghan Laslocky, 2005, Retrieved January 1, 2013
(http://www.salon.com/2005/10/11/real_dolls/).
Exercises in Embodiment:
January 30 (W) Life and Death of a Body
Papers Due
M “Law, Religion, and Fetal Personhood,” Jean Schroedel, 2007, Retrieved January 1,
2013 (http://www.rcrc.org/issues/Law,%20Religion,%20and%20Personhood.cfm ).
M “Inches from Life,” Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine, 2012, Pp. 34-47 in
How Ethical Systems Change: Abortion and Neonatal Care, New York: Routledge.
B “The Phenomenology of Death, Embodiment, and Organ Transplantation” Haddow
108-23
M “God, Duty, and Life Worth Living,” Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Elyshia Aseltine,
2012, Pp. 32-43 in How Ethical Systems Change: Tolerable Suffering and Assisted Dying,
New York: Routledge.
Exercises in Embodiment:
The instructor reserves the right to adjust the schedule as needed.
Calculating Your Final Grade
EXAMPLE
Reading Responses – 20%
Maximum of 10 credited responses, worth 2% each:
9 credited responses turned in = 9 x 2 = 18% (out of possible 20%)
· Reading Responses grade = 18
Participation Activities – 20%
Based on an estimated 10 in-class activities, there would be a maximum of 20 points.
Satisfactorily participated in 7 activities (2 points each) = 14 points
Unsatisfactorily participated in 1 activities (1 point each) = 1 point
Missed 2 activities (0 points each) = 0 points
Total participation points = 15
15 accrued points / 20 possible points
15/20 = .75 20% of 75 = 15 (out of possible 20%)
· Participation Activities Grade = 15
Leading Class – 10%
Grade = 9
· Leading Class Grade = 9
Exercise in Embodiment – 5%
Grade = 5
· Exercise in Embodiment Grade = 5
Exam – 20%
Grade = 83 83 x .20 = 16.6
· Exam Grade = 16.6
Paper –25%
Paper Grade = 91 91 x .25 = 22.8
· Paper Grade = 22.8
Final Grade Calculation
Reading Responses: = 18
Participation Activities: = 15
Leading Class: = 9
Exercise in Embodiment: = 5
Exam: = 16.6
+ Paper: = 22.8
Final Grade Total: 86.4 (B+)
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Subject Area(s):
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Resource Type(s):
- Syllabus
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Class Level(s):
- Any Level
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Class Size(s):
- Medium
- Abstract:
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This syllabus is for a course that examines the body and embodiment through a sociological lens. It is designed as a special topics sociology course for students of all majors and educational levels. The assessments used in this course reflect this diverse body of...