Being Bodies

The relationship between body and mind has always been a topic of speculation and spirited discussion. The authors of the pieces contained in this anthology address the problem from the unique dual perspective of being women and being students of Buddhism.

Higher Being Bodies constitutes a veritable guide or manual for the development of spiritual consciousness. Ocke de Boer presents his very personal understanding in a manner that encourages his reader to follow the same path. He brings a broad understanding of sources and to Gurdjieff's teaching including Gurdjieff's Eastern sources in Hinduism, Buddhism and Christian thought. The order of presentation leads the reader from clear definitions to practical directions for self-work, all of which culminate in the practice of Unity Thinking. Ocke's description of man's seven states of being is an optimistic view of his reader's possibility to lift the self to a higher level. He encourages his reader by assuring him that he already has extraordinary possibilities in his nature. He explains the nature of negative emotions and the dangers of dualistic thinking. In doing all this he avoids scientific jargon that tends to obscure Gurdjieff's teachings in other works. In a many ways, he clarifies much that others have written.

InBelief, Bodies, and Being, twelve distinguished contributors present diverse and illuminating viewpoints on feminist issues of embodiement, materialism, and agency from feminist and postmodernist philosophical perspectives. Beginnning by positing non-traditional ways of approaching ontological concerns (through the acknowledgement of agential realties and the usage of an ontology of tropes), the volume concludes by addressing highly specific, culturally constituted types of postmodern bodies (monstrous, anorexic, and pharmaceutical bodies).

In this volume an international team of scholars address the theme of books as sacred beings from an impressively diverse range of primary material and perspectives. Yet, as a group, they meld to engage and advance previous research to solidify the conclusion that human cultures, especially religious groups, often ritualize bodies as sacred books and books as divine beings. The studies collected here not only increase the range of examples of this phenomenon. They also show the wide variety of ways in which the identity of books, bodies and beings gets both ritualized and theorized. The articles are bracketed by an introduction to the collection, and then by a concluding essay that extrapolates the theme of books as sacred beings on a more general level.

Becoming Biosubjects examines the ways in which the Canadian government, media, courts, and everyday Canadians are making sense of the challenges being posed by biotechnologies. The authors argue that the human body is now being understood as something that is fluid and without fixed meaning. This has significant implications both for how we understand ourselves and how we see our relationships with other forms of life. Focusing on four major issues, the authors examine the ways in which genetic technologies are shaping criminal justice practices, how policies on reproductive technologies have shifted in response to biotechnologies, the debates surrounding the patenting of higher life forms, and the Canadian (and global) response to bioterrorism. Regulatory strategies in government and the courts are continually evolving and are affected by changing public perceptions of scientific knowledge. The legal and cultural shifts outlined in Becoming Biosubjects call into question what it means to be a Canadian, a citizen, and a human being.

By 1535 Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins. Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome and created his own church. But Henry’s actions have forced England into dangerous isolation, and Anne has failed to do what she promised: bear a son to secure the Tudor line. When Henry visits Wolf Hall, Cromwell watches as Henry falls in love with the silent, plain Jane Seymour. The minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of the court, and its miasma of gossip, he must negotiate a “truth” that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days. In Bring Up the Bodies, sequel to the Man Booker Prize– winning Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn.

This collection deepens our understandings of the ways women are controlled through their bodies. Despite the many inroads made over the past decades, femininity and womanhood continue to be constructed through cultural, political and social ideals. Women's Bodies/Women's Lives is an excellent resource for a powerful movement that can challenge and resist the dominant ideas in society influencing women's sense of self.

In this collection leading thinkers, writers, and activists offer their responses to the simple question “do I have a body, or am I my body?”. The essays engage with the array of meanings that our bodies have today, ranging from considerations of nineteenth-century discourses of bodily shame and otherness, through to arguing for a brand new corporeal vocabulary for the twenty-first century. Increasing numbers of people are choosing to modify their bodies, but as the essays in this volume show, this is far from being a new practice: over hundreds of years, it has evolved and accrued new meanings. This richly interdisciplinary volume maps a range of cultural anxieties about the body, resulting in a timely and compelling book that makes a vital contribution to today’s key debates about embodiment.