Slave to the Body is the first comprehensive study of body-politics in the Old South. The book investigates how black and white, male and female bodies were defined and thereby brought into existence as distinct corporealities. The making and unmaking of Southern bodies took place in a variety of fields such as medicine, sexuality, religion, beauty, fashion, or sports - and it resulted in a hierarchy of corporeality in which blacks were much more embodied than whites, and in which white men and black women marked the opposite poles of this typology of embodiment. The dualism of black hyper-bodies and white no-bodies determined modes of social control. While whites were regulated in modern disembodied ways, slaves were controlled in pre-modern ways via the inflicted flesh. The despotic power whites exercised over blacks was inefficient in many ways, but reformatory experiments failed, because Southern whites were unable to think blacks differently. Images of black hyper-corporeality were so persuasive that white Southerners were incapable of creating less embodied, more efficient and more tolerable modes of control. In this sense, Southern whites were slaves to their own body-texts.
| ISBN: | 9783631399125 |
| Publication date: | 21st January 2003 |
| Author: | Lars Schroeder |
| Publisher: | Peter Lang Edition an imprint of Lang, Peter, GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wiss |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 506 pages |
| Series: | American Culture |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: general Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 History of the Americas Social and cultural history Society and culture: general Gender studies: women and girls |
Slave to the Body is the first comprehensive study of body-politics in the Old South. The book investigates how black and white, male and female bodies were defined and thereby brought into existence as distinct corporealities. The making and unmaking of Southern bodies took place in a variety of fields such as medicine, sexuality, religion, beauty, fashion, or sports - and it resulted in a hierarchy of corporeality in which blacks were much more embodied than whites, and in which white men and black women marked the opposite poles of this typology of embodiment. The dualism of black hyper-bodies and white no-bodies determined modes of social control. While whites were regulated in modern disembodied ways, slaves were controlled in pre-modern ways via the inflicted flesh. The despotic power whites exercised over blacks was inefficient in many ways, but reformatory experiments failed, because Southern whites were unable to think blacks differently. Images of black hyper-corporeality were so persuasive that white Southerners were incapable of creating less embodied, more efficient and more tolerable modes of control. In this sense, Southern whites were slaves to their own body-texts.
Slave to the Body features in the following genres: Literary studies: general, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, History of the Americas, Social and cultural history, Society and culture: general, Gender studies: women and girls
Slave to the Body is available in Paperback
Slave to the Body was written by Lars Schroeder and published by Peter Lang Edition an imprint of Lang, Peter, GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wiss
Slave to the Body has 506 pages
Yes it is part of American Culture series