The Body

The body has become an increasingly significant concept over recent years and this reader offers a stimulating overview of the main topics, perspectives and theories which surround the issue. This broad consideration of the body presents an engagement with a range of social concerns, from the processes of racialization to the vagaries of fashion and performance art, enacted as surgery on the body. Individual sections cover issues such as: * the body and social (dis)order * bodies and identities * bodily norms * bodies in health and dis-ease * bodies and technologies. Containing an extensive critical introduction, as well as a series of introductions summarizing each section, this reader offers students a practical guide and a thorough grounding in the fascinating topic of the body.