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This module focuses on the body as both real and constructed, a topic often overlooked in Sociology. However, issues like disease, death, climate change, social and political control, activism (e.g., protests in Iran), warfare, and rights movements—like those around trans rights—show how crucial the body is to social science.

You’ll explore tough and fascinating questions about how the body is studied and understood in different global contexts (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa). The module looks at debates around bodily materiality (what the body is) and performativity (how the body expresses itself), drawing on thinkers like Goffman, Bourdieu, Fanon, Arendt, Butler, and Puar.

You’ll also study how the state controls bodies seen as undesirable—such as refugees, asylum seekers, or non-binary people—through torture and violence. The course will discuss gendered aspects of body regulation, like war rape, torture, nationalism, and how bodies are tied to national identity.

These case studies will help you understand the vulnerability of the body to harm and abuse, as well as efforts to reclaim control over it. You’ll look at how bodies are controlled through societal debates, identity activism, and rights movements (e.g., the act of cutting hair in protests in Iran).

A key question throughout will be the balance between the body’s material reality versus how it’s socially constructed. The module will spark debates on bodily abuse, rights, and control, linking with Criminology in considering issues of body integrity and power. You’ll engage with current affairs, academic research, journalism, and novels to explore both the vulnerability and power of the body.