The Body in History: Europe from the Palaeolithic to the Future - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521195284 ISBN 13: 9780521195287

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

This book is a long-term history of how the human body has been understood in Europe from the Palaeolithic to the present day, focusing on specific moments of change. Developing a multi-scalar approach to the past, and drawing on the work of an interdisciplinary team of experts, the authors examine how the body has been treated in life, art and death for the last 40,000 years. Key case-study chapters examine Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Classical, Medieval, Early Modern and Modern bodies. What emerges is not merely a history of different understandings of the body, but a history of the different human bodies that have existed. Furthermore, the book argues, these bodies are not merely the product of historical circumstance, but are themselves key elements in shaping the changes that have swept across Europe since the arrival of modern humans.

About this title

Review:

'This book is amazing. Robb and Harris take us on a grand tour of the human body, tracing its diverse forms and attachments over a span of 50,000 years. Rarely do so many fascinating ideas come together in one place. For scholars who study the body in Africa, Asia, or the New World, the book offers a steady stream of comparative insights. As an experiment in multiscalar analysis, The Body in History is a tantalizing, indispensable model for future work.' Andrew Shryock, University of Michigan

'An encyclopedic collection of articles that addresses the crucial question of how and why bodily understandings and practices change throughout history. Wide-ranging and creative in its sources, and innovative theoretically and methodologically, The Body in History is an invaluable contribution to, and will be required reading for anyone interested in, the field of body studies.' Chris Shilling, author of The Body and Social Theory

'A masterful book that brings multidisciplinary analysis to bear on the question of the social body. The focus on diachronic change – on transition and transformation – as well as on scales of practice, makes this an original and much-needed contribution that will be of interest not only to historians and archaeologists but also to scholars from diverse fields that engage with study of the body. This text is a must-read that will be used in both teaching and research.' Barbara L. Voss, Stanford University, California

'This remarkable volume demonstrates how the idea of the body has been dramatically reworked in successive eras, from the Pleistocene to the present day. Spanning archaeology, history, and cultural studies, the chapters argue that, more than a concept, the body is simultaneously a collection of gestures and comportments that can vary from one era to the next. In a world transfixed by the prospects for robotic and bionic engineering, where the body/technology boundary is becoming increasingly porous and zombies are everywhere, this beautifully written study demonstrates how the body itself has always been in history.' Daniel Lord Smail, Harvard University, Massachusetts

Book Description:

This book is a long-term history of how the human body has been understood in Europe from the Palaeolithic to the present day. Drawing on the work of a cross-disciplinary team of experts, the authors examine how the body has been treated in life, art and death, and what this tells us about who we are today and who we have been in the past.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0521195284
• ISBN 13: 9780521195287
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 287
• Editor: Robb John, Harris Oliver J. T.