Let's Get Physical: Media and Technologies of American Fitness and Wellness

3.0 credits · Undergraduate

Did you know that the treadmill originated as a prison torture device and that aerobics videos are credited with popularizing the VCR? This course will explore the spaces, media, and technologies of American fitness, as well as the cultures that have emerged around them. Looking at a variety of objects, including treadmill patents, the Wii console, athleisure fashion, biohacking manifestos, and Peloton classes, we will ask what the history of exercise tells us about gender, race, sexuality, perceptions of health and disability, and our relationship to technology. Utilizing different research methods, such as interviewing a fitness influencer, we will interrogate theories of “fitness,” from Eugenics to polygenic embryo screening, and “wellness,” from early popular health movements promoting apple cider vinegar to “Make America Healthy Again.”