HST 359 - Sex, Beauty, and the Body in Brazil and the Caribbean

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement HU and DE.
This course examines Brazilian and Caribbean conceptualizations of sex, beauty and the body during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Beginning with the theoretical underpinnings of colonialism and the legacies of slavery, we will then examine how contemporary democracies and globalization have formed Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean identities, particularly among the female population. Major themes include sex work and sex tourism, constructions of beauty and plastic surgery, and the ways in which recent returns to democracy have shaped these actions and decisions.