Remaking the Body

This subject is not offered in 2016.

36 hours per semester

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Re-Making the Body focuses on experimentation and research. Students are required to form small multidisciplinary collaborative groups reflective of the diversity of disciplines in the University. Each group develops its own project on the body related to current areas of social/scientific concern. Groups will receive supervision from staff from the arts, humanities and sciences.

Through the development of highly experimental projects, students generate opportunities for interdisciplinary research on the body, leading to new modes of representation, as well as new understandings and strategies for dealing with the complex array of issues and questions surrounding the human body.

In linking their projects to the creative arts, the sciences, humanities or other fields of knowledge, students work discursively and experientially within an analytical and critical framework. Communicating the outcomes of their projects via publicly accessible performances, exhibitions, publications of experimental or discursive writing, film and video, on-line material, and conferences, is integral to the success of their projects.

Note: Students taking the Poetics of the Body track of breadth subjects normally take them in order from first year Poetics of the Body to second year Re-thinking the Body and Re-Making the Body, although each of the units can be taken separately or in any order.

Re-Making the Body aims to:

• Provide opportunities for collaborative research within interdisciplinary projects focusing on the body;
• Provide projects for the application of critical and analytical skills within an interdisciplinary context;
• Provide practical techniques, research methodologies and strategies for interdisciplinary problem solving;
• Focus attention on the expressivity of the human body as a shared medium of communication;
• Generate an on-line forum and archive for project –based research on the body;
• Offer the ground for new modes of understanding and representation of the body;
• Contribute to and enrich current debate on the human body;
• Engage students with culturally diverse practices and customs associated with the body.

Project based assessment

25% Research journal. On going assesssment.

50% Collaborative project. To be assessed at the end of the 12 Weeks.

25% A written analysis (1000 words) and documentation which may include photos, video, music, on-line material and other resources. To be submitted at the end of the 12 weeks.

Readings will be given out in seminars.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

At the completion of the Re-Making the Body subject students should be able to:

• Exhibit a sound working knowledge of the role of the human body across its various discipline specific domains;
• Demonstrate excellent interpretive abilities across a range of academic disciplines;
• Confidently communicate, both orally and in writing, opinions, ideas and observations with regard to theory and practice of the body, in group situations;
• Participate effectively as a team member in interdisciplinary projects with a shared focus;
• Embody an informed respect for the principles, protocols, discipline and ethics of interdisciplinary research, scholarship and practice;
• Demonstrate capacities for collaborative research, project planning and execution and presentation;
• Contribute to a range of disciplines as collaborators and leaders.