Foreign Bodies: Politics/Med

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Contagion, corruption, invasion, infection – with these ideas the foreign body is often portrayed as a threat to the integrity of a nation or person. However, the wellbeing of both physical bodies and nation states also demands exchange with and incorporation of the world outside the self. This course explores the dual valance of foreignness and the ways in which images of the foreign move between politics and medicine. We will examine how bodies come to express human difference and become a means to reject, tolerate, or aspire towards a life with others.