An examination of some of the ways in which body, gender and sexuality are constructed and practiced in cultures dominated by Hindu and Buddhist ideals.
This paper explores the confluence of Asian religious and academic concerns with the body through consideration of technologies of the body (such as asceticism, self-mortification, celibacy, sexual control, exercise, and bodily care), idealised representations of the body (as heroic or divine), and the ambivalent role of the body as both a hindrance and a vehicle for spiritual progress.
In this paper, we will also critically examine how notions of gender, morality and social belonging are mediated in and through the body, connecting such conceptual issues to our own contemporary context and lived experiences.
| Paper title | The Body in Asian Religions |
|---|---|
| Paper code | RELS209 |
| Subject | Religious Studies |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2
(Distance learning)
Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $955.05 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 36 points
- Restriction
- RELS 309, RELX 209, RELX 309
- Schedule C
- Arts and Music, Theology
- Notes
- May not be credited together with RELS233 or RELS333 passed in 2005.
- Contact
- More information link
View more information on the Religion website: www.otago.ac.nz/religion
- Teaching staff
- Paper Structure
The paper is divided into six modules:
- What is the body? Theoretical Contours and Framing Questions
- The Body: Friend of Foe, Hindrance or Help?
- Self-mortification and the Power of Pain
- Celibacy and Sexual Power
- Bodily Virtuosity
- Everyday Embodiments and Bodily Boundaries
Assessment:
- Weekly reflections - 20%
- Essay Outline - 10%
- Essay (2,000 words) - 35%
- Exam (3 hours) - 35%
- Teaching Arrangements
The Distance Learning offering of this paper is taught remotely.
Campus: Two 1-hour lectures per week
- Textbooks
- A coursebook containing lecture notes and readings is available for this paper. Printed copies will be available through the printshop. The coursebook is also available as a PDF through Blackboard.
- Course outline
- View sample course outline for RELS209
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Scholarship, Communication, Critical
thinking, Cultural understanding, Ethics, Information literacy, Research.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the paper will be able to demonstrate
- A sound factual knowledge of issues relating to gender, sexuality, asceticism and bodily care in a variety of Asian religious traditions
- An appreciation for how the comparative study of religion can highlight similarities between religious traditions in different times and places, without losing sight of differences and particularities that reflect unique historical, cultural and geographic contexts
- A nuanced understanding of the body as a locus of tension between the socially-constructed and the biologically-given, and of the various ways the body functions as a mediator between the individual and the collective.
