NOV course: The Body in Feminist Theory and Practice

The idea for this course emerged in the wake of the recent upsurge of interest in the body in society at large, in public/political debates, and within contemporary feminist scholarship. It has two aims. The first is to explore some of the ways in which the body can become a subject of
feminist inquiry, as well as to address the possibilities and problems involved in doing research on the body from a feminist perspective. The second aim is to discuss and interrogate the ways in which our own embodiment as researchers impinges on the work we do. None of us -  whether feminists or not - are the idealized disembodied subjects of Enlightenment mythology or disinterested rational agents in search of objective/neutral knowledge about the bodies of others. Learning to take our own bodies - bodies which are marked by sex, sexuality, ethnicity, age, and more - into account is not only 'politically correct'. It is integral to producing embodied and passionate knowledge - the cornerstone of any feminist inquiry.

In this course, different disciplinary and theoretical approaches will be presented to the analysis of bodies, embodiment and embodied subjects as research objects. The methodological 'ins' and 'outs' of doing research on the body from a feminist and/or critical perspective will be  outlined and assessed. Special emphasis will be given to  poststructuralist theories of embodiment and to psychoanalytic notions of the body.

Dates:
March 5, 7, 12 and 14, 2007 (full days)

Credits:
7,5 ECTS - only awarded after an accepted written paper.

Students not requiring any credits will receive a certificate of attendance.

Teachers:
Prof. dr. Rosi Braidotti and Dr. Cecilia Asberg