Health, Bodies, Media - CUL260
What does it mean to be 'healthy'? This course will critically examine the way we understand and imagine 'health'. We ask how our own embodied experiences of health or ill health shaped by media practices and forms, as well as wider biomedical and political institutions. We will focus particularly on the way health is imagined in broadcast and online media, including public health campaigns, popular science communication, news and current affairs, commercial advertising and popular entertainment television genres. Contemporary debates such as those around smoking, obesity, sexual health and mental illness will be analysed and discussed. We will explore how categories of 'health' and 'illness' play out in ethical and political decision making. How are ideas about 'normal' or 'pathological' bodies and identities tied into concepts of 'health'? And how does the idea that 'wellness' is an individual's responsibility underpin public policy and peoples' ways of understanding and managing their own bodies?
| Credit Points: | 3 |
| When Offered: | S2 Day - Session 2, North Ryde, Day |
| Staff Contact(s): | Dr Nicole Matthews |
| Prerequisites: |
15cp at 100 level or above |
| Corequisites: | |
| NCCW(s): | |
| Unit Designation(s): | |
| Unit Type: | People unit |
| Assessed As: | Graded |
| Offered By: | Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies Faculty of Arts |
Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
Need help? Ask us.