Contesting Bodies and Nation in Canadian History

"Filling a considerable lacuna in research, Contesting Bodies and Nation in Canadian History will serve as a foundational text for all that follows in this exciting area of study. The scholarship is exemplary, as demonstrated in its sophisticated yet accessible introduction and its original, innovative, and interdisciplinary studies. A unique and significant collection, it will be vital reading for historians, social scientists, and cultural studies scholars working in related areas and will add much to an expanding international literature." -- Cynthia Comacchio, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University "Body history has become an important field of research, but it has been relatively neglected within Canadian historiography. This volume introduces the increasingly influential historical field through an eclectic collection of essays, all of which are based on solid scholarship and well worth reading." -- Keith Walden, Department of History, Trent University

In this first collection on the history of the body in Canada, an interdisciplinary group of scholars explores the multiple ways the body has served as a site of contestation in Canadian history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

From fur coats to nude paintings, and from sports to beauty contests, the body has been central to the literal and figurative fashioning of ourselves as individuals and as a nation. In this first collection on the history of the body in Canada, an interdisciplinary group of scholars explores the multiple ways the body has served as a site of contestation in Canadian history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Showcasing a variety of methodological approaches, Contesting Bodies and Nation in Canadian History includes essays on many themes that engage with the larger historical relationship between the body and nation: medicine and health, fashion and consumer culture, citizenship and work, and more. The contributors reflect on the intersections of bodies with the concept of nationhood, as well as how understandings of the body are historically contingent. The volume is capped off with a critical introductory chapter by the editors on the history of bodies and the development of the body as a category of analysis.