Health, bodies and embodiment

This course supports students to understand and engage critically with social scientific approaches to human bodies and embodiment, and to appreciate the relevance of these to studying health. It is primarily designed for students undertaking the MA Health, Science and Society but takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing widely from sociology, anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies, and is open to students in Years 3 and 4 across the University. The course will be of particular interest to students undertaking degrees in Social and Political Sciences. Experiences and understandings of health, illness, wellness, disease and death are irrevocably tied to human bodies; yet the body has been problematized considerably by social scientific theorization and research. This course shows how social scientific work on bodies and embodiment (how people live in/with/as their bodies) offers vital resources through which to critically consider the ways in which (embodied) health is shaped by societal structures, meanings and practices. Students are introduced to a range of social scientific perspectives on bodies and embodiment, and will learn to critically apply these to understanding human health, including a consideration of health experience, health care and health research. Credit Level: 10 Year taken: Year 4 Undergraduate