THE BODY IN INDIAN MEDICINE
ANS 384
Professor Martha Ann Selby
What does it mean to inhabit a body in India? This is the primary question that we will attempt to answer during the course of the semester in this seminar (graduate standing is required). The readings and discussion over the course of the term will parallel the development of the human being from conception, infancy and childhood, adulthood and sexuality, and ending with aging and death. We will take an interdisciplinary approach, and will examine textual materials from an extensive range of sources and time periods. Sources will include selections from medical literature from India’s ?yurvedic traditions as well as readings from religious narratives that deal directly with issues of embodiment and provide powerful metaphors for it. We will also be drawing largely on sociological and anthropological studies of the different forms that embodiment takes, from metaphysical issues on what it means to be “alive” or “dead” and the human body’s connection to land and landscape to careful explorations of the body’s outer surfaces in terms of ritual, ascetic, and strictly sartorial concerns with adornment and fashion. We will also explore the fascinating interfaces between bodybuilding and nation building in India.
Each week, one student will serve as discussion leader and provide the other seminar participants with an 8 to 10-page “topics paper” in advance. Two other students will be asked to respond with a formal written commentary of 2 to 3 pages, and discussion will proceed from there. Formal presentations of research in progress will be held during the final 2 weeks of the semester.
Readings:
1. Wujastyk, Dominik. The Roots of Ayurveda.
2. Langford, Jean. Fluent Bodies: Ayurvedic Remedies for Postcolonial Imbalance.
3. Daniel, E. Valentine. Fluid Signs: Being a Person the Tamil Way.
4. Kakar, Sudhir. Shamans, Mystics and Doctors.
5. Lamb, Sarah. White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender, and Body in North India.
6. Barrett, Ron. Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in North India.
7. Parry, Jonathan. Death in Banaras.
8. Arnold, David. Colonizing the Body.
9. Readings packet (this will include translations of primary texts and a number of articles and chapters from book-length studies)
Grading/Presentations/Requirements:
1 topics paper (8 to 10 pages in length) plus presentation 20%
2 reaction papers (2 to 3 pages in length) plus presentation 30% total (15% each)
Formal oral presentation on research paper in progress 20%
Final research paper (20 to 30 pages in length) 30%