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2020/21 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

SLSP5302M Contested Bodies

15 creditsClass Size: 25

Module manager: Prof Ruth Holliday
Email: r.holliday@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: 1 Apr to 31 Aug View Timetable

Year running 2020/21

Module replaces

GEND5108M Contested Bodies

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

Philosophical, cultural and sociological theory frequently celebrates the mind at the expense of the body. However, as people we can only experience the world through our bodies and are perceived by others in our bodies. Body theorists have offered considerable challenges to a mind/body split and have developed theories that make the body a central concept in social and cultural analysis. This module explores approaches to the body through particular theorists including Foucault, Butler, Grosz and Merleau-Ponty, and themes such as; bodies as commodities; the body and technology; bodies crossing borders; fat bodies; and body modifications such as beauty, exercise, slenderness, cosmetic surgery, tattooing, piercing and transexuality.

Objectives

This module will engage students in higher level debates providing them with advanced understanding of key concepts and theories in relation to the body. Student will apply these skills to a breadth of contemporary issues allowing them to develop their critical knowledge and understanding.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- identify key theoretical concepts in the study of the body;
- understand the critical debates surrounding the gendering of the body;
- critically analyse bodies and bodily practices;
- review and critically appraise writing on the body;
- synthesise information and knowledge from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives;
- use the above to produce a critical essay which addresses key arguments and debates within the study of the body.

Syllabus

The module will cover a broad range of topics in relation to understanding the body, such as:
Approaches to the Body: how are bodies interpreted, has this always been understood in the same way?
How do bodies signify identity and how are they central to our experiences?
What other ways of interpreting bodies could there be?
How far can we change our bodies and the way others see them?
Selling Bodies - human trafficking, mail-order brides, sex tourism and human organ sales.
Reproduction and the body - IVF, sperm donation, the male pill and the 'egg trade'.
- Men, masculinity and the body
- Fat bodies, gender, class and disgust
- Bodies at work
- Disability and the body, the social model and phenomenology
- Cutting Bodies - Cosmetic Surgeries.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	11	2.00	22.00
Private study hours			128.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Preparation for lectures and tutorials 78 hours
Preparation for assessment 50 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Attendance and participation in tutorials.
Completion of formative work.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay or Dissertation	3,000 words	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 16/11/2020

Disclaimer

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