SOCI8027
Body, intimacy and sexuality
Offer semester
Lecture time
Lecture venue
Credits awarded
1st semester
Monday
19:00-21:50
CPD-1.21
6
How do you think of your body? Where do you start when you think about your own body? To what degree do you have control of your body, or is it subject to the production of the multi-faceted social, cultural and political processes? Our body is not simply what we have and what we do things with and to - because we are bodies. What is the role of body in intimacy, is it physical or emotional or sexual? Who and how are we supposed to do intimacy with? How about sexuality? How should we make sense and live our lives with respect to people of different genders, sexualities, classes, ethnicities, ages, and bodies? This course is an investigation of the social processes and practices in constructing our understanding, management and expression of our bodies, intimacies, and sexualities. We draw upon theories and studies in sociology, cultural studies and queer studies with special attention to East Asian societies.
Besides learning from theoretical approaches and debates about body, intimacy and sexuality, students will be able to reflect on their own lived experience and connect personal narratives to cultural analysis through an autoethnographic project and other class discussions.
On completing the course, students should be able to:
Understand key theoretical concepts and debates in the field of sexualities and sociology of the body.
Analyse the role of civil society and government on the regulation of bodies, intimacies and sexualities.
Reflect on their own narratives and construction of bodies, intimacies and sexualities.
Gain critical tools in conducting ethnographic research on bodies, intimacies and sexualities in contemporary social life.
Tasks
Weighting
Participation and class discussion
15%
Readings presentation
15%
Project presentation
20%
Autoethnographic essay
20%
Research essay
30%
Boero, N. & K. Mason eds. 2021. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Malacrida, C. & J. Low eds. 2016. Sociology of the Body: A Reader (2/e). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.
McLelland, M. & V. Mackie eds. 2015. Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia. London: Routledge.
Adams. T.E., S.H. Jones & C. Ellis. 2015. Autoethnography: Understanding Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aggleton, P. et.al. eds. 2023. Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights (2/3). London: Routledge.
Beck, U. & E. Beck-Gernsheim 1995. The Normal Chaos of Love. London: Polity Press.
Berry, C., M. Martin & A. Yue. eds. 2003. Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Bobel, C. & S. Kwan eds. 2019. Body Battlegrounds: Transgressions, Tensions, and Transformations. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Conrad, R. ed. 2010. Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Marriage. Lewiston ME: Against Equality Press.
Davis, D. S. & S. L. Friedman, eds. 2014. Wives, Husbands and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Engebretsen, E.L. 2014. Queer Women in Urban China: An Ethnography. New York, London: Routledge.
Engebretsen, E.L. & W.F. Schroeder eds. 2015. Queer/Tongzhi China: New Perspectives on Research, Activism and Media Cultures. Copenhagen: NIAS.
Foucault, M. 1980. The History of Sexuality. Vol 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage.
Giddens, A. 1992. The Transformation of Intimacy. London: Polity Press.
Ho, P. & K.T. Tsang 2012. Sex and Desire in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Howson. A. 2013. The Body in Society: An Introduction (2/e). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jackson, S., J. Liu & J. Woo. eds. 2008. East Asian Sexualities: Modernity, Gender & New Sexual Cultures. London: Zed Books.
Jamieson, L. 1998. Intimacy: Personal Relationships in Modern Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
King, A., K. Almack & R.E. Jones eds. 2019. Intersections of Aging, Gender, Sexualities: Multidisciplinary International Perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press.
Kong, T. 2019. Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong: Unspoken but Unforgotten. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Lorber, J. & L.J. Moore. 2011. Gendered Bodies: Feminist Perspectives (2/e). New York: Oxford University Press.
Moore, L.J. & M. Kosut. eds. 2010. The Body Reader: Essential Social and Cultural Readings. New York: New York University Press.
Plummer, K. 2003. Intimate Citizenship: Private Decisions and Public Dialogues. Montreal; Kingston: McGill‐Queen’s University Press.
Pratt, G. & V. Rosner. eds. 2012. The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time. New York: Columbia University Press.
Seidman, S., N. Fischer & C. Meeks. eds. 2006. Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies. London, Routledge.
Shilling, C. 2012. The Body and Social Theory. Los Angeles: Sage.
Tang, D.T.S. 2011. Conditional Spaces: Hong Kong Lesbian Desires and Everyday Life. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Turner, B.S. eds. 2012. Routledge Handbook of Body Studies. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge.
Waters, D. 2005. One Couple, Two Cultures: 81 Western-Chinese Couples Talk About Love and Marriage. Hong Kong: MCCM Creations.
Yau, C. ed. 2010. As Normal As Possible: Negotiating Sexuality and Gender in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Offer Semester | Lecture Day | Lecture Time | Venue | Credits awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1st semester | Monday | 19:00-21:50 | CPD-1.21 | 6 |
