SOC 322 - Monsters and Modernism

Credits: (3)
Monsters and Modernism, or “Who are you calling weird?” focuses on the human fascination with otherness that can be traced back to ancient Greece and the Cyclops in Homer’s Iliad and other mythical half-human monsters, and even earlier to the allegorical tales of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Modern otherness is highlighted in the debates surrounding identity politics-the civil rights, feminist, and in particular, the disability rights movements. This course considers the various theories and methods that social scientists employ to examine identity (including lengthy conversations about postmodernism and alternative epistemologies) in an attempt to better understand how normalcy is socially determined. The examination will include a closer look at popular culture, and specifically how disability and other differences amongst individuals are portrayed in film, television, print media, etc.