Dr. Hunter creates new course: Body Politics
Bodies are an important site of sociological study.
Cosmetic surgery, skin bleaching, reproductive justice and dancing… What do they have in common? Body politics. The body is an important site of power relations affecting individual interactions, as well as social structures. This winter Dr. Hunter will offer a new course, "Body Politics: Race, Gender & Power" where she will explore all of these issues and more.
How do race, gender and other aspects of power influence the body? The course will focus on topics such as policing and the construction of "criminal bodies," the beauty industry and the construction of "ugly bodies," healthcare and the construction of "sick bodies," and reproductive justice and the construction of "in/fertile and irresponsible bodies." The readings will offer an intersectional approach to studying the body by looking at race, gender, class, citizenship, disability, and sexuality.
Given the national trend to ban books and restrict curricula about race, gender and LGBTQ+ issues, students in this course will read banned books in order to better understand what anxieties and debates they represent. Dr. Hunter is looking forward to engaging these topics in lively discussion with the Sociology students.