Land of the Hunger Artists

Science, Spectacle and Authority, c.1880–1922

Häftad, Engelska, 2023

Av Agustí Nieto-Galan, Agusti (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) Nieto-Galan, Agustí

549 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Finns i fler format (1)

Inbunden

1 649 kr

Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

From the 1880s to the 1920s, hunger artists - professional fasters - lived on the fringes of public spectacle and academic experiment. Agustí Nieto-Galan presents the history of this phenomenon as popular urban spectacle and subject of scientific study, showing how hunger artists acted as mediators between the human and the social body. Doctors, journalists, impresarios , artists, and others used them to reinforce their different philosophical views, scientific schools, political ideologies, cultural values, and professional interests. The hunger artists generated heated debates on objectivity and medical pluralism, and fierce struggles over authority, recognition, and prestige. Set on the fringes of the freak show culture of the nineteenth century and the scientific study of physiology laboratories, Nieto-Galan explores the story of the public exhibition of hunger, emaciated bodies, and their enormous impact on the public sphere of their time.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2023-11-23
Mått152 x 227 x 16 mm
Vikt420 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor300
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781009379564

Tillhör följande kategorier

Naturvetenskapens historia inom Naturvetenskap och teknik

'Agustí Nieto-Galan's book offers the first in-depth and scholarly account of the hunger artists of Italy after unification. Drawing on the rich body of texts, images, and goods that marked the spectacular fasts of these individuals on their global trajectories, he skillfully balances the perspectives of rapt publics, doubting doctors, enthusiastic impresarios, and an expanding media culture. Diverse groups of commentators contended over the veracity or fraudulence of the capabilities of their extraordinary bodies, as well as over what profits could be made out of them. In a period that gave rise to most of our modern categories of food requirements and eating disorders, these men came to exemplify both the limits and the potential of nutrition science, both inside and outside the laboratory. A fascinating book that stands at the intersection of many areas of historical interest.' Emma Spary, University of Cambridge