Guides: Catalyst 300: The Body Reimagined
Summary
The human body is often described as the “most complex machine ever created,” yet it remains a site of profound biological limitations, social contention, and ethical dilemmas. Whether viewed through the lens of medicine, aesthetics, law, psychology, or culture, the body is not just a biological entity—it is a lived experience and a social construct. Identify a specific friction point where the human body intersects with modern society. Research this problem from at least two distinct disciplinary perspectives (e.g., Biology and Philosophy, or Exercise Science and Sociology…) and design an innovative proposal—a policy, a physical prototype, a digital tool, or a community program—to address it and improve the human experience. Please make sure your topic is appropriate for classroom and public presentation.
Government Documents, Statistics, Websites
Proquest Statistical Abstract: 1400+ individually indexed tables (with attached spreadsheets) of statistics on the social, political and economic organization of the United States. Information available both by searching and browsing.
Our World in Data: Our World in Data (OWID) is a free, non-profit website. Our mission is to increase understanding of the world’s largest problems and drive informed action to solve them
Getting Started
Reference resources provide a starting point for your research projects.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and more in one place. Below is a sample of keyword searches in Credo Reference related to this topic:
Call Numbers and Subject Headings
You can use the list of call numbers and subject headings below as keyword searches in our catalog and databases, or you can go to these sections of the library to find books on these topics
- BD 450 Philosophical Anthropology
- GN49-298 Physical anthropology. Somatology
- HM 636 [Sociology–Culture] Human body
- HQ1088-1090.7 Men
- HQ1101-2030.7 Women. Feminism
- HV1551-3024 People with disabilities
- RD118-120.5 Plastic surgery. Reparative surgery
Subject Headings
Asexual people
Bioethics
Body Image
Gender roles
Human body—Social aspects
Human body—History—Social aspects
Intersectionality
Masculinity—United States—History
Mind and body—Philosophy
Sex role
Sex role—United States—History
Trans people
Women—United States—History
Books
Books from Lane Library
All books in this list are located either in the Franzen Center on Floor 3A or are e-books.
The History of Sexuality / HQ12.F6813 1978
The body and social theory / HM636 .S55 2012
Routledge handbook of physical cultural studies / GV342.27 .R68 2017
Simians, cyborgs, and women : the reinvention of nature / GN365.9 .H37 1991
How our days became numbered : risk and the rise of the statistical individual / HG8531.B68 2015
Race after technology : abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code / HN90.I56 B46 2019
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy / RD120.7 .R63 2025
The body project : an intimate history of American girls / HQ798 .B724 1997
Fashion before plus-size : bodies, bias, and the birth of an industry / HD9940.U4 P484 2023
The invisible kingdom : reimagining chronic illness / RC108 .O765 2022
Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes / GV482 .Y8 2023
Articles
Academic Search Complete: Covers a wide range of academic disciplines, with more than 8600 periodicals available in full text.
BMC Central: Peer-reviewed open access journals in the health sciences.
Humanities International Complete: Broad coverage of humanities disciplines, with over 1200 full-text journals and books.
JSTOR: A full-text archive of over 400 scholarly journals in the arts and sciences. Issues from the past three to five years may not be available.
Proquest Research Library: Includes both popular and scholarly periodicals covering a variety of subjects, with over 3300 titles available in full text.
Proquest Social Science: Over 550 full-text journals covering a range of social science topics.
PsycInfo/PsycArticles: These two databases combined offer the full text of over 650 journals in behavioral science and related disciplines.
SPORTdiscus: Full-text and abstract database of both scholarly and popular journal and book literature on sports medicine, exercise science, physical therapy, sports, fitness and related topics.