HIST 2146 Health and Fitness Culture (also AMST 2146) (HA-AS)
Monday and Wednesday: 7:30-8:45pm
Dr. Adrienne Bitar
Health and fitness are key concepts that define "good" bodies and "good" citizens. The course examines the history of the changing definitions of health and fitness, asking questions such as: How has the discovery of the vitamin and the introduction of the calorie changed ideas of proper diet? What is the historical origin of anorexia? What is the "halitosis appeal" in 20th century advertising? How have spas and hot springs shaped the American rural landscape?
Topics include diets and dieting, physical education, spas, body building, domestic science, body and beauty ideals, the Aryan ideal in Nazi Germany, the obesity epidemic, and vitamania.
Students will actively engage with primary source material, including ancient amulets from Cornell Anthropology Collections and 19th century "snake oil" medical trade cards housed in Cornell's Rare and Manuscript Collection.
