Course Catalogue

Humanities and Social Science

1. To critically explore and understand the diversity of representations of the human body across a broad range of different historical periods and literary-historical genres. 2. To undertake advanced study of historical examples and contemporary theories of the body and somatic experience, drawing both on literary theory and related disciplines. 3. To achieve a mastery of new and emergent ways of writing the history of the body.

Outline Syllabus:This module traces the literary and cultural history of the body from the Early Modern period to the present day. Exploring changing experiences of human embodiment in modernity, the module deploys a variety of theoretical perspectives, from gender theory to the medical humanities, to analyse sexuality, race, and class at a corporeal level. Recuperating the haptic, affect, and jouissance in the human, the centrality of the body in debates as diverse as those on regicide, slavery, and transgender identity will be explored in relation to key theorists such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler and Donna Haraway; the module will also trace the central role of the feminist tradition in focusing scholarly attention on the history of the body. Using these critical theories on the body, the module will examine a range of primary texts, from Renaissance tragedy to Gothic monstrosity and on to the post-human bodies of contemporary speculative fiction, and historical figures from the Renaissance period to the modern day, to examine fundamental questions about the relationship of the corporeal to culture, society and self.

Module Overview:
You will trace the literary and cultural history of the body from the Early Modern period to the present day. Exploring changing experiences of human embodiment in modernity, the module deploys a variety of theoretical perspectives, from gender theory to the medical humanities, to analyse sexuality, race, and class at a corporeal level.