CCHU9002

Battles for Bodies:

The Birth of Surveillance Society

Dr. Carol Tsang

The University of Hong Kong

Course Pack

(2020-2021)

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 Contents

1. Welcome

2. Who We Are

3. Course Overview

4. Lecture Schedule

5. Tutorial Schedule

6. Course Structure

7. Assessment & Assignments

8. Note on Plagiarism

9. Consultation

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 Welcome

Dear Students, welcome to Battles for Bodies: The Birth of Surveillance Society
(CCHU9002).

The Course Pack is intended as a practical course companion and contains useful
information about the teaching structure and coursework. It will explain what you can
expect to learn from the course and how the course will be assessed. Please make sure
you read the contents carefully. We will be using Moodle and all materials will be
available for download online.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I hope you enjoy the
course. Happy learning and all the best for the semester!

Carol Tsang

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 Who We Are

Dr. Carol Tsang

I completed my BA and MPhil degrees in the Department of

History at the University of Hong Kong, and earned my PhD from
the department with my thesis on women’s medicine and women’s
diseases in colonial Hong Kong. My areas of research and teaching
expertise are Hong Kong’s history, health and medicine, and
women’s and gender studies. Apart from teaching this course, I am
also the coordinator of CCHU9071 Man Up: Masculinities in the
Making, CCHU9043 Rethinking Women: The Big Debates and
CCCH9054 Mothering China: From the Womb to the Nation. I
was the recipient of the Arts Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards (2017-2018). For
more information, look at https://www.history.hku.hk/staff-c-tsang.html. I look
forward to teaching you!

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Alison So

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Gender Studies Programme

(Educational Administration and Policy) at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong. My doctoral thesis titled Un/healthy Starts tries to
understand the making of healthy and ideal student bodies in
colonial Hong Kong. My research interests include fat studies, girl
power and post-feminism, biopolitics and neo-liberalism, and
colonial body history.

Email: [email protected]

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 Course Overview

What is the state’s final frontier? Why have governments around the world been given
the authority to manage the most intimate aspects of our existence: from the food we
eat to our sexual behavior? What has the impact of this involvement been on our
sense of self? How ‘free’ are we to possess our own bodies? During the course we
consider the complex nature of ‘health’:

• What is ‘health’?
• To what extent have ideas about health changed over time and across cultures?
• How has health been enforced and resisted?
• How do we experience health today?

Battles for Bodies focuses on contemporary societies through the critical lens of the
past and considers the extent to which we are increasingly defined and regulated by
health, which is sold to us as a commodity and prescribed as a moral imperative. The
aim is to encourage students to reflect upon and challenge the assumptions which
underpin our reliance on government and our aspirations for personal autonomy. In
Battles for Bodies we discuss a wide range of material, including texts, films and
adverts in order to consider such issues as health surveillance and the coercive state,
colonialism, the democratization of society, and the global exportation of ideas about
what is ‘normal’. The course presupposes no previous knowledge of the subject.
Whether you intend to pursue a degree in the Humanities, Modern Languages, Law,
Engineering, Business, Science or Medicine you are welcome to sign up.

Photo Credits: Poster for Super Size Me (2004) © Samuel Goldwyn Films; Poster of the London Eugenics Society
around 1930; Poster for a No Smoking campaign, photo by Patrick Demarchelier; Pill Head © Bryan Christie
Design for Newsweek.

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 Lecture Schedule

Semester Two
All lectures will be pre-recorded. Online discussion sessions will take place on Zoom
on Wednesdays, 4:30pm – 5:20pm

Lecture 01 20 January Do you Own Yourself?

Lecture 02 27 January Body Building: Health, Wealth & the

State

Lecture 03 3 February Revolution: Health Citizenship

*Quiz 01

Lecture 04 10 February Filth: The Birth of Hygienic Society

*Instructions for the Online Portfolio assignment will be
uploaded on Moodle

LUNAR NEW YEAR 17 February NO CLASS

*Instructions for the Mediatizing Health debate (Tutorial
03) will be uploaded on Moodle

Lecture 05 24 February Degeneration

Lecture 06 3 March Colonizing the Body

READING WEEK 10 March NO CLASS
*Topics for the Course Project assignment will be
uploaded on Moodle

Lecture 07 17 March The Final Solution: Nazi Germany

*Quiz 02
*Instructions for the Food, Inc. presentation (Tutorial 05)
will be uploaded on Moodle

SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT 17 March

Lecture 08 24 March Warfare and Welfare

Lecture 09 31 March Global Health

Lecture 10 7 April The Medicalization of Society

Lecture 11 14 April Pathologies of Power

*Quiz 03

Lecture 12 21 April Conclusion and Way Forward

Please Note: Students should consult the Lecture Readings sheet for Suggested and
Further Readings on topics covered in the lectures (downloadable from Moodle).

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 Tutorial Schedule

There will be 7 tutorials and time slots for the tutorials will be finalized by
Thursday 4 February. All tutorials are conducted via Zoom. They are compulsory
and last 50 minutes. They are held on Mondays and Tuesdays (depending on your
time slot). Tutorial sign up app will open for registration on Monday 1 February
at noon with details of the time slots and close on Tuesday 2 February at noon.
Please note: students should come to tutorials well prepared. Tutorial outlines and
readings are downloadable from Moodle.

Tutorial 01 Monday 8 February (online) Fat

Tuesday 9 February (online)

Tutorial 02 Monday 22 February (online) Surveillance Society

Tuesday 23 February (online)

Tutorial 03 Monday 1 March (online) Mediatizing Health

Tuesday 2 March (online) *class debate

Tutorial 04 Monday 22 March (online) Genetics

Tuesday 23 March (online)

Tutorial 05 Monday 29 March (online) Food, Inc.

Tuesday 30 March (online) *class presentation

Tutorial 06 Monday 12 April (online) Essay Consultation

Tuesday 13 April (online)

Tutorial 07 Monday 19 April (online) Essay Consultation

Tuesday 20 April (online)

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 Course Structure

How is the course taught?

The course is taught in 12 double-slot lectures and 7 tutorials.

Lectures
All lectures will be pre-recorded. Online discussion sessions will take place on
Wednesdays between 4:30pm and 5:20pm on Zoom. The Zoom button can be found
on Moodle. It is essential that you attend the lectures to enable you to meet the course
requirements (see ‘Assignments’ below). You are strongly encouraged to participate
in the weekly discussion sessions to consolidate the knowledge obtained in class.

Tutorials
You are required to attend 7 tutorials during the semester. Tutorials last 50 minutes.
We aim to keep the groups as small as possible (ideally 10 to 12 students in each
class) to maximize the opportunities for discussion. Please check the times before
choosing a group. Once you have decided your slot, you are required to stick with this
group throughout the semester.

Tutorials provide an opportunity to focus in greater depth on particular course themes

and ideas. In advance of every seminar you will be provided with a tutorial handout
with material to think about before the meeting, including an outline of the main
issues we will be addressing and discussion points. This will form the basis of our
class discussion. Your participation in tutorials and associated activities accounts for
40% of your final grade. For the topics covered in the tutorials, see the Tutorial
Schedule above.

Learning Outcomes
1. Analyze the historical role of the state in the surveillance and regulation of health.
2. Reflect upon and critically consider the relationship between health and societal
organization.
3. Apply comparative historical approaches to examine the political, social and
ethical issues which underlie current public health debates.
4. Reflect upon and critically consider how Western and non-Western health systems
have impacted upon each other.

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 Assessment

There is no final examination. The course is assessed exclusively on the basis of your
coursework, which consists of three components: Continual Assessment and Task-
focused Activities, an Online Portfolio, and a Course Project. The breakdown of
grades is as follows:

Continual Assessment & Task-focused Activities 40%

Online Portfolio 20%
Course Project 40%

Assignments

Before each of the assignments you will be handed notes explaining exactly what is
required and if you have any queries you will be able to discuss the issues with the
teacher and course tutor. You are welcome to email us and make an appointment.

Continual Assessment and Task-Focused Activities (40%)

i) Tutorial participation (10%)

ii) Quizzes (5% each, total 15%)

You will be assigned three quizzes in the online discussion sessions
(Lectures 03, 07, 11). The quizzes will be based on material presented in
class. If you miss a quiz, you will receive a zero. There are no make-up
quiz options available.

iii) Tutorial 03 class debate and Tutorial 05 presentation (7.5% each, total
15%)

Online Portfolio on Moodle (20%)

You will be required to submit a review based on an image given to you (e.g. a
historical photo, a cartoon, a poster) about health surveillance. The review should be
no longer than 600 words. Again, please be reassured, you will be provided with a
guide for this assignment, explaining what is expected. The assignment should be
uploaded to Moodle by Wednesday 17 March at noon.

Course Project (40%)

You will be expected to write a paper on a topic covered in class. The paper should be
2,500 words maximum. Citations and a bibliography should be included in the paper
but excluded from the word count. Topics and detailed instructions are downloadable
from Moodle during Reading Week. The assignment should be uploaded to Moodle
by Wednesday 28 April at noon.

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 Note on Plagiarism
It is important that you acknowledge the work of others and include a correct citation
system in all your assignments. Plagiarism (the appropriation of other people’s work
as your own) is taken extremely seriously at HKU. For further information about
plagiarism and how to avoid it, please see the pages on the Research Services website:
http://www.rss.hku.hk/plagiarism/page2s.htm. You may also consult the booklet
Plagiarism and How to Avoid It, produced by the Graduate School and the English
Centre. Please feel free to contact us if you need advice or have any concerns.

Consultation
You are welcome to contact either of us should you have any questions or queries
about the course. You may email Dr. Carol Tsang at [email protected] to make an
appointment. Ms. Alison So can be contacted at [email protected].

Your feedback is important to us and we want to ensure you get as much as possible
from the course. With this in mind, we look forward to meeting up to discuss progress
with you during the semester.

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