Bodies Under Capitalism

What is capitalism? How does it shape the material and social conditions of our lives and our experiences of our bodies? In this course students will acquire a conceptual toolkit for studying the politics of capitalism before exploring questions of how and why bodies are differentiated, disciplined, commodified, worn down, fortified, locked up, and abandoned in contemporary life. Topics to be covered include colonialism, work, ecology, gender and social reproduction, race and racism, obesity, disability, prison, pharmaceuticals, and social movements.