AIP 330 Perversity Deviance and Social Change (CP)
The concepts of “perversity” and “deviance” are intimately tied to the cultural, social, economic and political forces of any age. In the course of history of Western culture, behaviors, desires, identities and bodies have been labeled and re-labeled as “deviant” and “normal.” We cannot appreciate notions of the deviant and perverse without considering how society seeks to control, to normalize, to shape us. In this interdisciplinary course, we consider and analyze representations of cultural, racial, physical and sexual difference in various forms of material culture from a variety of time periods. We will also look at strategies and technologies of social control as well as how deliberate perversity and deviance serve to resist them. Finally, we will seek to explain how definitions of dangerousness and acceptability change across time.