Deviance: The Body

Don’t all people seek physical comfort, safety, and pleasure? Why would anybody purposely harm their own bodies? Join anthropologist Robert Lemelson to explore how physical pain, deprivation, and self-harm might make someone feel more culturally alive. From the ritual body modification of initiation and coming of age rites to the annual peak religious experience of the Thaipusam festival in South and Southeast Asia, from the Sokushinbutu, or living Buddha’s of Japan, to eating disorder clinics in the urban United States, ethnographic examples will illuminate how physical pain and discomfort can becomes a culturally meaningful experience.

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Resources:

Goffman, E. (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.

Freilich, M., Raybeck, D., amd Savisinshky, J. (1991) Deviance: Anthropological Perspectives. NY: Praeger.

Anderson, L. (2017) Deviance: Social Constructions and Blurred Boundaries. CA: University of California Press.