Bodies and Borderlands: Introduction and Contents
How do historical legacies and accompanying power dynamics come to influence how and why society views some people's bodies as more valuable than others? How, particularly, do cultural norms come to affect those most marginalized, and what can we learn from those whose lives are relegated to the cultural "borderlands"? From changing ideas of gender and race, to bodies moving across national borders in an era of globalization, this section of Bodies will engage with these questions through an intersectional lens that explores contemporary dialogues on race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and ability, among other embodied positions.
The full course syllabus can be found on our Canvas shell, along with course assignments and a few additional course readings. Below you will find the course reading schedule with hyperlinks to the readings available through our online reader!
Course Schedule:
Week One: Theories of Embodiment
T 8/28 Introductions. Review Syllabus
In class: Breathing Exercise
TH 8/30 “Mind/Body Dualism,” “Embodiment,” and “Intersectionality” (Bodies)
Elizabeth Grosz, “Refiguring Bodies” (Bodies)
Audre Lorde, “The Uses of the Erotic” (Bodies)
In class: What are your social locations? How do these locations affect your every day experiences?
Week Two: (Un)Disciplining the Body: Cultural Norms, Stigmas, and Bodily Difference
T 9/4 “Cultural Norm,” “Bodily Difference,” and “Stigma” (Bodies)
Silja J. A. Talvi, “Marked for Life: Tattoos and Redefinition of Self” (Bodies)
Erin J. Aubry, “The Butt: Its Politics, Its Profanity, Its Power” (Canvas)
In class: How have our own bodies been stigmatized? How have we voluntarily marked our bodies? What is, and is there, a difference?
TH 9/6 “Panopticism” (Bodies)
Katy Waldman, “The Tyranny of the Smile” (Bodies)
Olga Khazan, “Why Americans Smile So Much” (Bodies)
In class: Screen “Bitchy Resting Face” and Macat Analysis of “Panopticism”
Week Three: La Frontera: Towards a Border Consciousness
T 9/11: Excerpts from Gloria Anzaldúa’sBorderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (Canvas)
In Class: Body Project Assignment Brainstorm Session
TH 9/13: Excerpts from Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth(Canvas) and Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation(Canvas)
In Class: Feel and Process Practices
Week Four: Bodies and Physical Space
T 9/18: Excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s, Between the World and Me (Canvas)
Kayla Renee Parker, "Black Women vs. White Men in Public Spaces: A Crosswalk Experiment and Relevance”(Bodies)
Ada Guzman, “What Happens When Women Manspread” (Bodies)
TH 9/20: Bessel Van Der Kolk, “Learning to Inhabit Your Body: Yoga” (Canvas)
Meet in Fitness Center in Exercise Clothes!
Week Five: The Traumatized Body
T 9/25: Bessel Van Der Kolk, “This is Your Brain on Trauma” (Canvas)
TH 9/27: Bessel Van Der Kolk, “The Imprint of Trauma” (Canvas)
Week Six: (Mis)Recognition: Bearing Witness to Cultural Trauma
T 10/2: Nora Strejilevich, A Single, Numberless Death (ix-39)
TH 10/4: Excerpts from Elaine Scary’s,The Body in Pain (Canvas)
Week Seven: (Non)Belonging: The Unmaking of Citizenship
T 10/9: No class. Fall Recess. Enjoy!
TH 10/11: Nora Strejilevich, A Single, Numberless Death (40-110)
Week Eight: Reparations and Reconstructions: Straddling Past, Present, and Future
T 10/16: Library Visit.
In Class: Turn in and Process Somatic Experiencing Journals
TH 10/18: Nora Strejilevich, A Single, Numberless Death (111-171)
Week Nine: Bodies Beyond Imagined Borders
T 10/23: Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Dueling Dualisms” (Canvas)
Leslie Feinberg, “We are All Works in Progress” (Canvas)
In class: Ruby Rose “Break Free”
TH 10/25: Shani Mootoo, “Out on Main Street” (Bodies)
Week Ten: Embodying Radical Vulnerability
T 10/30: Janet Mock, Redefining Realness (xi-41)
TH 11/1: Janet Mock, Redefining Realness(43-83)
In Class: Janet Mock Reverse Interview
**November 1st: Evening Campus Screening of Free CeCe!
**November 3rd: Translating Identity Conference, Keynote Speaker CeCe McDonald
Week Eleven: Naming Transmisogyny
T 11/6: Excerpts from Julia Serano’sWhipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism, and the Scapegoating of Femininity(Canvas)
TH 11/8: Janet Mock, Redefining Realness (85-139)
Week Twelve: Redefining Womanhood
T 11/13: Janet Mock, Redefining Realness (141-201)
TH 11/15: Janet Mock, Redefining Realness(203-258)
Week Thirteen: Occupying the Borderlands with Embodied Intention
T 11/20: Excerpts from Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Liberation, and Love(Canvas)
TH 11/22: No class.
Week Fourteen: From Theory to Praxis: Collaborative Creations
T 11/27: Small Group Working Session
TH 11/29: Small Group Drafts
Week Fifteen: Dress Rehearsals!
T 12/4: Due Small Group Working Session
TH 12/6: Group Project Presentations
Final Bodies Projects Exhibition at Core Convivium
