History 316: The Body as Historical Subject

Fall 1998

Mondays, 7:00 PM-9:00 PM

Leonard V. Smith, Associate Professor

315 Rice Hall, x8950

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesdays, 2-4 PM, Tuesdays 1-3 PM (by sign-up sheet only); other times by appointment

This is an advanced course in how to read and write about the history of constructions of the human body. The history of the body is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary historical inquiry, which means both good news and bad. The good news is that students have the chance to see the historical craft at a "state of the art" level. The readings draw from a dazzling array of source material, from political and medical treatises, to the writings of medieval women mystics, to pornography. The bad news is that the history of the body is a field in which the rules are still being written. Indeed, the paradigms guiding the history of the body as they are evolving will be one of the major discussion themes of the course.

The course is structured topically rather than chronologically or geographically. The material we will read for this course is extremely unforgiving in terms of historical context. From week to week we will be making vast leaps across space and time. More than half of the readings deal with European history, from the Antiquity to the present. But particularly in the second half of the course, we will be reading quite a bit of material in non-Western history. I would encourage you to consult early and often such basic reference works as the Encyclopedia Britannica if, for example, you need to brush up on Aristotle or the Aztecs.

 

But in the end, be prepared to spend large amounts of time pouring over material you don't understand very well. This course is an introduction to the art of self-teaching, which is much of what the historical profession is all about.

 

The following books are available for purchase at the Oberlin Co-op Bookstore:

Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic: An Archeology of Medical Perception (1975)

Lisa Cartwright, Screening the Body: Tracing Medicine's Visual Culture (1995)

Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (1990)

Barbara Duden, Woman Beneath the Skin: A Doctor's Patients in Eighteenth-Century Germany (1991)

David Arnold, Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India (1993)

Particularly in the second half of the course, assigned readings will be distributed in xerox copies. In order to defray the costs of making these copies, all students are asked to pay $10.00 (a fraction of the actual cost), either in cash or in the form of a check made out to Oberlin College. I reserve the right to withhold grading until payment has been received.

All of the required books are on reserve, as well as additional readings. Many of the xeroxed readings come from the three-volume collection, Fragments for a History of the Human Body, edited by Michel Feher with Ramona Naddaff and Nadia Tazi. All three volumes are on reserve. As many of the pictures will be in color, students may wish to consult these volumes there.

Requirements:

I. Discussion:

The format of the course is discussion. Regular and intensive participation by each member of the class is essential to the success of the enterprise. Though grading remains more an art than a science, approximately 50 percent of each student's final grade will depend on her or his ability to contribute to class discussion. I encourage students to consult with me if they have any concerns about their level of participation in class discussion.

II. Presentations:

Students will making short (10-15 minute) presentations regularly over the course of the semester. The purpose of the presentations is not to provide a "blow by blow" summary of the assigned readings, rather to lay out the main issues of the readings so as to initiate discussion. What does the reading at hand tell you about the important issues of the history of the body? What does it leave out, or what would you like to see done differently?

For some of the readings, especially the monographs, students may wish to consult book reviews to identify issues for their presentations. The Book Review Index, available in the reference section of the library, can be a useful source in this regard.

III. Papers:

The writing component of the course comprises three short (4-5 page) essays. These may be drawn from students' presentations, though this is not a requirement. As with the presentations, the purpose is not to provide a "book report" of the readings, but rather to show how the readings explore (or fail to explore) the key issues of the history of the body. Papers written about articles (as opposed to monographs) must consider at least two articles.

Essays must be submitted within the week following the class discussion of the readings considered. In other words, essays considering the readings from the October 5 meeting of the class must be submitted by the October 12 meeting of the class.

Students must write at least one paper before Fall Break, and at least two by Thanksgiving.

Rewrites will be allowed for the first two papers if students are not satisfied with their grade. Rewrites are due one week after the original paper is handed back. The rewrite grade will be recorded as the final grade for the paper. Students who wish to rewrite papers should have a conference with me to discuss problems with the original version. The original paper must be submitted, along with the rewrite.

Schedule of Classes and Readings:

September 14: Introduction

September 21: Issues of the History of the Body

Readings:

Barbara Duden, Woman Beneath the Skin, Chapter 1, "Toward a History of the Body"

William R. LaFleur, "Hungry Ghosts and Hungry People: Somaticity and Rationality in Medieval Japan" from Fragments, Part I, pp. 270-303 (xerox)

September 28: Foucault: Seeing and Constructing the Body

Readings:

Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic (selections)

October 5: The Body Seen

Readings:

Linda Cartwright, Screening the Body (all)

 

October 12: The Medical Profession and Sex vs. Gender

Readings:

Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (all)

 

October 26: Doctor and Patient

Readings:

Barbara Duden, The Woman Beneath the Skin: A Doctor's Patients in Eighteenth-Century Germany (Review Chapter 1, read the remainder)

November 2: Colonial Medicine: The Case of India

Readings:

David Arnold, Colonizing the Body (all)

November 9: Week Off for Good Behavior (and because I’m in France)

November 16: The Body and Reproduction

Françoise Héritier-Augé, "Semen and Blood: Some Ancient Theories Concerning Their Genesis and Relationship," from Fragments, Part III, pp.158-75 (xerox)

 

Emily Martin, "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has Constructed a Romance based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles," Signs, (Spring 1991, xerox)

November 23: The Body Politic

Readings:

Florence Dupont, "The Emperor-God's Other Body," from Fragments, Part III, pp.396-419 (xerox)

Lynn Hunt, "The Many Bodies of Marie Antoinette," from Eroticism and the Body Politic, pp.108-130 (xerox)

 

Klaus Thelweleit, Male Fantasies (excerpts, xerox)

November 30: The Body, Judiasm, and Christianity

 

Charles Mopsik, "The Body of Engenderment in the Hebrew Bible, the Rabbinic Tradition, and the Kabbalah," from Fragments, Part I, pp.48-73 (xerox)

Michael A. Williams, "Divine Image-Prison of Flesh: Perceptions of the Body in Ancient Gnosticism," from Fragments, Part I, p.129-47 (xerox)

Carolyn Walker Bynum, "The Female Body and Religious Practice in the Later Middle Ages," from Fragmentation and Redemption, pp.181-238 (xerox)

December 7: The Body, Hinduism, and Daoism

Charles Malamoud, "Indian Speculations about the Sex of Sacrifice," from Fragments," Part I, pp.74-103 (xerox)

Jean Lévi, "The Body: The Daoists' Coat of Arms," from Fragments, Part I, pp.104-126 (xerox)

 

December 14: The Body, Death, and the Afterlife

Readings:

Caroline Walker Bynum, "Material Continuity, Personal Survival and the Resurrection of the Body: A Scholastic Discussion in Its Medieval and Modern Contexts," from Fragmentation and Redemption, pp.239-97 (xerox)

Jonathan Parry, "The End of the Body," from Fragments, Part II, pp.490-517 (xerox)

Christian Duverger, "The Meaning of Sacrifice," from Fragments, Part III, pp.366-85 (xerox)

 

Additional Ground Rules:

1. Deadlines and page-limit requirements are to be taken most seriously. I am not in the business of persecuting students if a genuine problem exists, but in principle I strongly dislike giving extensions. Normally I take off 1/3 of a letter grade for every 24 hours a paper is overdue.

Three excuses for requesting extensions will never be acceptable: 1) a self-defined character flaw of procrastination; 2) extracurricular activities; 3) work in other classes. Two possible exceptions exist for unacceptable excuse #3. I am prepared to exercise some indulgence concerning students doing Seniors Honors projects or, in the case of Conservatory students, students playing Senior recitals. This is because of the "once in a lifetime" character of these projects.

2. Papers must be double-spaced and have one-inch margins. They must also be typed or word-processed with near letter quality resolution. I reserve the right to return any paper that is not legible.

3. All written work at Oberlin College is subject to the Honor Code, although the Honor Code need not be signed on papers.

4. All written work for the course must be completed in order to pass. That is to say, if two papers instead of three papers are turned in, a student will fail the entire course. Incompletes are governed by college rules; unofficial incompletes will not be given.