Body studies beyond apology and denial: critical dissent against post-modernism

Abstract

The aim of this study is to question post-modern approaches on the body and corporeality. For that, we divided the text in three different moments: firstly, we show the way the body studies and their steady academic presence are closely related to the arising and development of post-modern ideas on science and philosophy; after that, we specify some features and contradictions regularly found in the body studies whose basis is post-modernism. In the third part, we built some possibilities to deal with this subject having historical materialism as support. As conclusions, we could verify that a materialist approach on body is really necessary and also that both the apology and the bald refusal concerning body and corporeality must be avoided.