Objectives
This programme is designed to accommodate the increasing interest in philosophies of embodiment from philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists and sociologists, health and medical science practitioners. The body is no longer thought of as purely a biological system, enabling and restricting our activities. Our sense of our bodies is recognised as central to our conception of ourselves and a bearer of social meaning. There is ongoing debate concerning the way in which the body is involved in the categorisation of race, culture , (dis)ability, and gender. There is increasing concern about the way it is approached in medicine. Building on research links between Philosophy, within the department of Humanities, and the department of Social Science, this programme draws on modules from both subject areas, to provide a specific focus on embodiment. The programme is designed as a research MA with taught components, following the model now favoured by the research councils. The councils now require masters’ programmes to contain explicit research training modules, as well as the training involved in the supervision of the individually researched dissertation. Students successfully completing this masters should be equipped to start doctoral study, should they wish to do so. The programme is designed so that research skills in both social science and philosophy are offered. Students can take either or both of these elements, according to whether they wish their individual projects or future research to include empirical components. In line with the guidelines for research masters 50% of the credits are assigned to the dissertation.
Course description
Programme Stucture
CORE MODULES:
1. Subjects, Bodies and Worlds :
Naturalistic, Phenomenological and Psychoanalytic Accounts of Embodiment.
Indicative Theorists: Husserl , Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Merleau Ponty, Simone de Beauvoir, Fanon, Levinas, Iris Marion Young, Freud
2. Poststructuralist Theories of the Body:
Bodies and Power, Writing the Body, Performativity, The Materiality of the Body, Bodily Imaginaries, Bodily Integrity.
Indicative Theorists : Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, Judith Butler, Irigarary, Kristeva, Rosmarie Garland Thompson
3. Philosophical Research Methods
Or
Philosophical Issues in Social Science
4. Dissertation (between 20 000 and 30000 words)
OPTIONS
Key Issues in Identity Politics and Policies
The ‘White Ethnic’ and the ‘Black Body’
Black Power
Gendered Bodies, Gendered Selves
Disability Policy, Identity and Society
Other(ed) Bodies : Anthropology of Gender and Sexual Diversity
Additional Research Modules for those who want to do a dissertation with empirical elements and need additional training
Applications are welcome from those with degrees in philosophy/psychology/health studies/social science. Normally a 2.1 result is required. Applications from those with professional qualifications also welcome.
