Imitations of Life: Experimental Bodies at the Interface of Science and Culture
CHUM 343
Fall 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 343, FGSS 343, SISP 343 |
| Course Cluster: Animal Studies |
This seminar will examine scientific and cultural practices of corporeal simulation, or, practices of bodily substitution, imitation, and re/modeling. Topics examined will include: reproductive surrogacy; gender reassignment surgeries; experimental subject protocols; prosthetic enhancements; xenotransplantation; biometrics and alternative forms of bodily imaging; the use of nonhuman animals as human proxies; the rise of personalized medicine, and more. Students will engage with a wide range of case studies and theoretical materials from interdisciplinary perspectives. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between scientific discourses of "universality" and "particularity," where socio-cultural forms of difference (e.g., race, gender, disability, etc.) are at once ignored and exacerbated. While most of the material addressed in the class will relate to recent phenomena, we will also be attentive to relevant histories of corporeal differentiation and reimaging. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM, SBS CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(FGSS)(STS) |
Major Readings:
Sample Reading List: Carrie Friese, CLONING WILDLIFE: ZOOS, CAPTIVITY, AND THE FUTURE OF ENDANGERED ANMALS; Kelly Gates, OUR BIOMETRIC FUTURE: FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY AND THE CULTURE OF SURVEILLANCE; Kath Weston, ANIMATE PLANET: MAKING VISCERAL SENSE OF LIVING IN A HIGH-TECH ECOLOGICALLY DAMAGED WORLD; Cassandra Crawford, PHANTOM LIMB: AMPUTATION, EMBODIMENT, AND PROSTHETIC TECHNOLOGY; Miranda Davies, ed., BABIES FOR SALE? TRANSNATIONAL SURROGACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE POLITICS OF REPRODUCTION; Lesley Sharp, THE TRANSPLANT IMAGINARY: MECHANICAL HEARTS, ANIMAL PARTS, AND MORAL THINKING IN HGIHLY EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE; Dorothy Roberts, KILLING THE BLACK BODY: RACE, REPRODUCTION, AND THE MEANING OF LIBERTY; Melinda Cooper, LIFE AS SURPLUS: BIOTECHNOLOGY AND CAPITALISM IN THE NEOLIBERAL ERA; Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, MATTERS OF CARE: SPECULATIVE ETHICS IN MORE THAN HUMAN WORLDS.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly Moodle posts, two short response essays, final paper, and class participation |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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