Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies
|
Buy Now
Nudity - A Cultural Anatomy (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,727
Discovery Miles 17 270
You Save: R136
(7%)
|
|
Nudity - A Cultural Anatomy (Hardcover)
Series: Dress, Body, Culture
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
Nudity features regularly in all major media. So why is it illegal
to appear naked in public? Nudity has always been paradoxical. In
modern consumer culture, it is actively encouraged in some
contexts, but criminal or deviant in others. Images of nudity are
everywhere. Advertising uses nudity to sell everything from housing
loans to appliances, perfume to cars. Nudity has, in fact, become
the latest fashion. This is not surprising. Advertising and fashion
need a constant stream of novelty and there's nothing so new as
nudity, the oldest fashion of all. Aside from being big business,
nudity is a legal and moral minefield, the object of psychological
study, and a mundane fact of everyday life. We alternately think of
it as a perversion and a state of absolute innocence. Why does
nudity mean so many contradictory things, and why is it treated so
differently in different contexts? Drawing on a wealth of examples
from popular culture, literature, philosophy and religion, as well
as first-hand interviews, Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy goes deep into
the naked underworld to answer these questions. Barcan encounters
morticians, nudists, strippers, nurses, tattooists, artists and
makers of pornography. She demonstrates that ordinary people,
popular culture and high philosophy are all sources of wisdom about
the naked body. Nudity is one of the most fundamental metaphors in
the Western tradition - indeed, it is a metaphor for human nature
itself - and yet this book is one of the first to explore its
paradoxes in depth. Barcan's mission is to shine a light on a topic
that has been largely ignored, even within cultural studies,
despite its ability to titillate, shock or entertain. From pubic
hair fashions through to a Royal "full monty," Nudity: A Cultural
Anatomy is a fascinating blend of meaningful minutiae and big
philosophical questions about the most unnatural state of nature in
the modern West.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.