Everybody has a body. Yet no two bodies are the same: we are shaped by our genetics, our environments, the things we put in and on our bodies. Our bodies are constantly changing, as we age or get sick or get tattoos. Even with the sophistication of twenty-first century medicine, many aspects of our bodies remain mysterious, in medical enigmas like premature birth. We all inhabit bodies while bombarded with images of and ideas about bodies. How will our bodies change, or even continue to matter, in an increasingly digital world? What is the relationship between actual bodies and “ideal” bodies? What do bodies mean, and how have these meanings changed over time? This course examines the complexity of ideas about and experiences of the human body in American culture from early America to the present. We will consider disabled, sick, and well bodies; reproducing, aging, and dead bodies; consuming bodies; modified bodies; and digital bodies pushing the limits of technology. In so doing, we will learn the ways that these different factors shape bodily experiences and contemporary issues. Students will learn to analyze cultural discourses about bodies and will finish the semester by completing a creative project inspired by course content.