Cultural Bodies

Helen Thomas is Professor of Sociology of Dance and Culture at Goldsmiths College. Her publications include Dance, Modernity and Culture: Explorations in the Sociology of Dance (1995), Dance and the City (editor, 1997), and The Body, Dance and Cultural Theory (2003).Jamilah Ahmed gained her PhD from Goldsmiths College. She is currently an editor at Sage Publications.

• Acknowledgements. Notes on Contributors.Introduction.Part I: Ethnography:.1. Inscriptions of Love: Les Back (Goldsmiths College).2. From Catwalk to Catalogue: Male Fashion Models, Masculinity and Identity: Joan Entwistle (University of Essex).3. Reading Racialized Bodies: Learning to See Difference: Suki Ali (Goldsmiths College).4. Narratives of Embodiment: Body, Aging and Career in Royal Ballet Dancers: Steven P. Wainwright and Bryan S. Turner (King’s College; University of Cambridge).Part II: Ethnography and Theory:.5. Being a Body in a Cultural Way: Understanding the Cultural in the Embodiment of Dance: Sally Ann Allen Ness (University of California, Riverside).6. Bare Life: Nigel Thrift (University of Bristol).7. Lolo’s Breasts, Cyborgism and a Wooden Christ: Simon Shepherd (Central School).8. Talking Back to Neuro-reductionism: Emily Martin (New York University).Part III: Theory:.9. Eating for a Living: A Rhizo-ethology of Bodies: Elspeth Probyn (University of Sydney).10. Health and the Holy in the Afro Brazilian Candomblé: Thomas Csordas (Case Western Reserve University).11. Here Comes the Sun: Shedding Light on the Cultural Body: Simon Carter and Mike Michael (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Goldsmiths College).12. Reaching the Body: Future Directions: Jamilah Ahmed.Index

"An interdisciplinary text that offers cutting-edge theoretical and methodological means for analyzing, understanding, and imagining how the body materializes in cultural historical context and practice." Heidi Nast, DePaul University "Bringing together some of the most challenging contemporary research, this theoretical, empirical, experimental work presents a unique interdisciplinary understanding of how the body speaks, moves and interacts. It is fascinating, making visible some of the unknown and unseen parts and wholes of the body by exploring the materiality of physicality." Beverley Skeggs, University of Manchester