this issue is called "bodylore" in American folkloristics recently, and it is very hot.
the following are some related information about bodylore, like the description of a course offered by a folklorist.
http://mason.gmu.edu/~dshutika/bodylore.htm
bodylore
The term bodylore was coined by folklorist Katherine Young in 1989, and names a nascent subfield in folklore scholarship that focuses on the body's role in the production of social meanings. Although folklorists have recently engaged the body as a subject of scholarly inquiry, a great deal of folklore scholarship has covered areas of related interest, including performance, gesture, costume and bodily ornamentation, and explorations of the sense of place.
Central to recent folkloristic inquiries of the body is the reconsideration of Cartesian dualism, which imagines the body and mind as distinct entities. Descartes' perspective on the mind/body split has permeated nearly all aspects Western thought and even the structure of Western society. As such, we often find ourselves confronted with questions and assumptions about the way the world works based on opposing pairs. For instance, if one were to peruse the major news organizations over the last few weeks, you would likely find articles that consider whether a child's personality development is shaped by her genetic inheritance or the surroundings in which she is raised (nature/nurture). Or perhaps while passing through your local bookstore you would be confronted by the title of a recent best seller that asserts "Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus" (male/female; passion/reason). In fact, it is possible to think of hundreds of ways humans have segregated the world into what appear to be perfectly acceptable dualisms that have grown out of Descartes' philosophical writings, including: nature/culture, male/female, personal/professional and subject/object. In each instance, these pairs are set up as functional polar opposites, as if the boundaries distinguishing these concepts are easily distinguished or that one does not (or cannot) spill into the other's sphere of influence.
Given the taken-for-granted notion of the mind/body split in contemporary thought, through this course students will consider theoretical understandings of the body historically. The course begins with a brief overview of the field of folklore and the emergence of bodylore as a field of study. As part of this process, we will also consider the nascent transformation of ideas of the body as an "object" or "image" in the mind to that of a subject, thus capable of being the locus of culture. We'll also consider the theoretical perspectives of the body in feminist theory, phenomenology, the humanities as well as the more recent developments in the field of cognitive neuroscience, and the implications for these developments to critical theory. Interwoven with these theoretical considerations, we will also explore selected ethnographic case studies and literary works that explore problems of embodiment, and seek to provide applications of embodiment theory to quotidian experience.
Some of the questions considered in this course include: How does the body enact the discourses that are believed to constitute it? How do our ways of imagining and interpreting the body bear on our ways of ordering the social and natural world? How is the body's dual status as both mode and object of knowing negotiated in ethnographic and scientific practice? Is it possible to create an ethnographic praxis in order to displace the dualisms of mind and body, body and self?
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~dkapchan/home/coursepages/bodylore/bodylore.html
FORMAL EDUCATION: SMALL CLASSES!
LOTS OF INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION!
Body Lore
ANT 324L
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
The University of Texas at Austin
Wednesdays 7-1Opm
Taught by Dr. Deborah A. Kapchan
SPRING 2002
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What is the role of the body in cultural expression? How do we make sense of the tattooed body, the pierced body, the fat, thin and cyber body, the dancing and feeling body? This course explores various constructions of the human body and the ways communication about the body, as well as bodily communications, interact with larger historical contexts. Regarding the body as both a discursive field and an empirical reality, this course puts the body at the center of cultural analysis. Particular attention will be paid to the implication of theories of the body for ethnography and cultural representation. This course will interest students of medicine, culture, psychology and philosophy.
In most degree plans counts toward social science area requirement.
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UNIVERSITY EXTENSION COURSES:
• COUNT FOR FULL-COURSE LOAD CERTIFICATION
• GO AUTOMATICALLY ONTO YOUR UT TRANSCRIPT AND INTO YOUR GPA
• DEAN'S SIGNATURE NEEDED FOR ALL CONCURRENTLY ENROLLED UT STUDENTS, EXCEPT COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
* REGISTRATION SEPARATE FROM TEX *
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON REGISTRATION AND COURSE PRICES:
(512) 471-2900 http://www.utexas.edu/cee/uex
Thompson Conference Center 1.122 (26th & Red River)
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