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The course will dive into various ways in which the common notions of the borders and definitions of a “physical” body were being blurred in cultural anthropology and related fields of the last several decades. The classes shall illustrate, how these re-evaluations of approach are not just built on data from ethnographic research (drawing help from natural sciences), but are also a part of broader developments in Western thought. We will pay special attention to the possibilities and challenges which these lines of thought bring to cultural and social studies.
List of lessons with mandatory literature: (Note: the number of pages refers to pure text of all class’s readings put together, without bibliography etc.) 1. Introduction. Delineation of the natural human. Reading (38 pages): Philippe Descola: sections from Beyond Nature and Culture (2013). “The Autonomy of the Phusis” (p. 63–66), “The Autonomy of Creation” (p. 66–68), “The Autonomy of Nature” (p. 68–72), “The Certainties of Naturalism” (p. 172–200). 2. Foundations for blurring the borders I. Reading (18 pages): Thomas Csordas: “Embodiment: Agency, Sexual Difference, and Illness” (2011). 3. Foundations for blurring the borders II. Reading (25 pages): Judith Butler: “Bodies That Matter” (2011, 1st ed. 1993). (no lesson October 22nd - Sports day) 4. Person in and out of body I. Reading (14 pages): Andrew J. Strathern & Pamela J. Steward: “Embodiment and personhood” (2011) 5. Person in and out of body II. Reading (24 pages): a) Lambros Malafouris: “Is it ‘me’ or is it ‘mine’? The Mycenaean sword as a body-part” (2008); b) Andy Clark & David Chalmers: “The Extended Mind” (1998). 6. The gradients of body, mind, and culture. Reading (26 pages): a) George Lakoff: “Explaining Embodied Cognition Results” (2012); b) Armin W. Geertz: “Brain, Body and Culture: A Biocultural Theory of Religion” (2010); c) A section of Marcel Mauss: “Techniques of the Body” (1973, 1st ed. 1935) – p. 73–74. (no lesson on November 19th – Humanities Week) 7. Borders of body in culture and society. Reading (18 pages): Terence Turner: “Social Skin” (2012, 1st ed. 1980). 8. The span of culture’s impact. Reading (27 pages): a) Marcel Mauss: “Techniques of the Body” (1973, 1st ed. 1935) (a section); b) Levenson, R. W., Soto, J., & Pole, N. "Emotion, biology, and culture." (2007) 9. Body between cultures. Reading (14 pages): Janice Boddy: “Bodies under Colonialism” (2011). 10. Natural bodies and omnipotent technology I. Reading (28 pages): a) Emily Jones: “Feminist Technologies and Post-Capitalism: Defining and Reflecting upon Xenofeminism” (2019); b) Margaret Lock: “Technology in Extremis” (2002); c) William G. Pickering: “Concerning Medicine” (1987). (Christmas) 11. Natural bodies and omnipotent technology II. Reading (7 pages): Tom Ziemke: “The body of knowledge: On the role of the living body in grounding embodied cognition” (2016). Poslední úprava: Loulová Petra, Mgr. (26.11.2024)
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1) Presence (maximum 3 absences). 2) Preparation for the classes (reading, getting ready for the discussion). 3) For each lesson, there will be questions for discussion of the given reading sent to the students in advance. Each attendant shall hand in answers for one class of their choice in writing within the week following the respective lesson. Poslední úprava: Loulová Petra, Mgr. (18.09.2024)
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BODDY, Janice. “Bodies under Colonialism” in A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. Francis E. Mascia-Lees, ed. Malden & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. P. 119–136. BUTLER, Judith. “Bodies That Matter” in Bodies That Matter. London & New York: Routledge, 2011. P. 3–27. Original edition 1993. CLARK, Andy & David CHALMERS. “The Extended Mind”. Analysis 58/1 (1998), p. 7–19. CSORDAS, Thomas. “Embodiment: Agency, Sexual Difference, and Illness” in A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. Francis E. Mascia-Lees, ed. Malden & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. P. 137–156. DEMELLO, Margo. “Blurring the Divide: Human and Animal Body Modifications” in A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. Francis E. Mascia-Lees, ed. Malden & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. P. 338–352.
DESCOLA, Philippe. Beyond Nature and Culture. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2013. GEERTZ, Armin W. “Brain, Body and Culture: A Biocultural Theory of Religion”. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 22/4 (2010), p. 304–321. JONES, Emily. “Feminist Technologies and Post-Capitalism: Defining and Reflecting upon Xenofeminism”. Feminist Review 123 (2019), p. 126–134. LAKOFF, George. “Explaining Embodied Cognition Results”. Topics in Cognitive Science 4 (2012), p. 773–785. LANGFORD, Jean. “Medical Mimesis: Healing Signs of a Cosmopolitan ‘Quack’”. American Ethnologist 26/1 (1999), p. 24–46. LEVENSON, R. W., SOTO, J., & POLE, N. (2007). Emotion, biology, and culture. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 780–796). The Guilford Press. LOCK, Margaret. “Technology in Extremis” in Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and Reinvention of Death. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 2002. P. 57–75. MALAFOURIS, Lambros. “Is it ‘Me or ‘Mine?’ The Mycenaean Sword as Body-Part” in Past Bodies. Body-Centered Research in Archaeology. D. Boric and J. Robb, eds. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2008. P. 115–124. MAUSS, Marcel. “Techniques of the Body.” Economy and Society 2/1 (1973), p. 70–88. Original edition 1935. PICKERING, William G. “Concerning Medicine”. Journal of Medical Ethics 13/1 (1987), p. 42. STRATHERN, Andrew J. & Pamela J. STEWARD. “Embodiment and personhood” in A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. Francis E. Mascia-Lees, ed. Malden & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, p. 388–402. TURNER, Terence S. “The Social Skin.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 2/2 (2012). P. 486–504. Original edition in 1980. ZIEMKE, Tom. “The body of knowledge: On the role of the living body in grounding embodied cognition”. Biosystems 148 (2016), p. 4–11. Poslední úprava: Loulová Petra, Mgr. (26.11.2024)
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The individual classes will consist of discussion of the prescribed literature. Questions and topics to consider will be sent to students beforehand for each class. Poslední úprava: Loulová Petra, Mgr. (12.09.2024)
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