SPAN 4020 - Reading the Body in Medicine and Fiction

(crosslisted) FGSS 4020
(LA-AS) Satisfies Option 1.

Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2180 or CASE Q++ or permission of instructor.

J. Chang.

This course examines how modern Spanish writers and doctors represented the human body as they grappled with disease and disability. Reading fiction alongside medical and anthropological texts we will examine notions of the normal/abnormal, beautiful/ugly/ and healthy/infected as they change over time. We also look at the ways in which these concepts are inflected by other identity categories such as gender, race, sexuality, and class.