Final Exam Questions: Due on Wednesday May 6

Each essay should be between two-three paragraphs long and best answer each question. Consider the readings and discussion that we have engaged with all semester to craft your answers. Each answer should have DIFFERENT information. The more you draw from across the semester, the better.

1. How has the mind been privileged over the body in Western philosophy? How would you argue that this paradigm is false? Use evidence from our readings which support your argument. (Consider the reality of separation between mind and body and the social and cultural importance of the meaning of bodies).
2. How is the body a marker of identity and personhood (sex, gender, sexuality, race, etc.). Consider THREE different examples of identity constructed through the body in our readings and discussion.
3. Terrance Turner calls adornment of the body the "social skin." How and why is the body transformed in culture (natural body versus social body)? Consider Turner's theory and the necessity of adornment.
4. Gender is imprinted on the body in all cultures. Using THREE examples of gender transformations, discuss the role that culture plays in constructing gendered bodies (male/female/other if relevant) and the way that body "transformations" may support or challenge these constructions.
5. Bodies are "tamed" by culture, causing the physical to be experienced in social terms (Mary Douglas). In cases where bodies are "non-normative" how is this taming experienced? (consider stigmatization, disability, deliberate violations of normality, etc.)
6. Bodies are divided into acceptable and unacceptable parts by culture. Consider how some parts are the subject of "taboo" and "Ritual treatment" (unacceptable so take extra care and are powerful symbols). Use THREE cross-cultural examples to illustrate how the meaning of parts differs from culture to culture.