Human body parts have been historically endowed with different cultural values and socio-political meanings. In this seminar, we will consider the histories of different body parts as lenses to critically understand the body beyond its biological nature and its supposed universality and to reflect on the history of the world, with a special focus on the production and circulation of knowledge.

In this colloquium, doctoral students can present their research plan, share a chapter of their thesis, discuss a problem they are facing with their sources, etc. They obtain feedback by postdocs as well by the peer students taking part in the colloquium.

This lecture series offers an introduction to the relationship between gender and science, with a focus on the specific intersections with the sciences taught at ETH.

Students are given the opportunity to present drafts of their own master's thesis and discuss them within the framework of the colloquium. It does not matter whether students are in the preparatory phase or already in the midst of the writing process. The focus is on mutual peer feedback rather than subject-specific input from the faculty supervisor.

While being the universal constant which is common to every human being in history, the body is also culturally and historically specific. In this seminar we will examine how ideas of the body have changed throughout history and how these ideas of the body can be useful to understand political, social, and cultural phenomena in particular historical settings.