Department of Education, Unit Catalogue 2010/11 |
ED30435: (Un)healthy & physically (in)active bodies |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours |
| Period: | This unit is available in... |
| Semester 2 |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description:
| Aims: The aim of this unit is to address the place of the socially constructed concepts of health and fitness within contemporary society. In applying theoretical knowledge to the practices of health and fitness, students will critically engage with the discursive construction of human bodies and technologies. Art, literature, film, internet sites and field visits augment learning. Learning Outcomes: In the completion of the unit, students should be able to: * evaluate critically the discursive constitution of healthy & fit bodies; * evaluate critically the discursive constitution of unhealthy, fat/obese bodies; * demonstrate an ability to critically appraise knowledge on the impact of commercialism on the image of the fit/fat body, fitness promotion and the fitness clientele/instructor/manager relationship; * understand how the human body, health care technologies and health care settings are conceptualized, represented and/or studied by humanists, social and biomedical scientists and health professionals; * be able to frame pertinent issues about the relationships among embodiment, technologies and settings through insights gained through collaborative, interdisciplinary scholarship; * take responsibility for planning and organising their own learning. Skills: * Analysis of research and reflection (F/A) * Independent work (F) * Qualitative research skills (F) * Written communication (A) * Oral presentation and communication (FA) * Plan work, agree responsibilities and overcome difficulties in working with others (F) * Problem exploration, comparison of options, justification of complex problem solving (F) * Read and synthesis information from a variety of sources about a complex subject (F/A) * Integrated, cross-disciplinary understanding of fitness (F/A). Content: Students will study: * The premise of commercial health and fitness industry based on contemporary social theory * Posthuman Podiums: Gentic Modification and Medals * Critical engagement with the discursive constitution of healthy and fit bodies * Disciplined Bodies: Relationship between healthy and fit bodies and the social formation * Pejorative Polis: Investigation into those 'bodies that do not matter' * (Dis)ability: legal aspects, health and safety, as well as ethical, moral and physical/ emotional responsibilities, and, disability discourse * Dis/Covering Bodies: Corporeal Renderings, Readings and Representations * Cyborgification: Dis/Ease, Dis/Order and Perfectibility: Technologies of Repair and Enhancement * Merchandizing Bodies and Organs: Consumerism, Globalization and Bio-Politics. |