ABSTRACT
All human beings have the same physical body, save for minor variations, but not all human beings experience and understand their bodies in the same way. Body size, its racial features, and relative ability are not simply physiological matters but also social and cultural experiences that are created by how people are treated and how they understand themselves. Race is a particularly consequential aspect of bodies: while it has no grounding in biology, the social judgement of bodies that we refer to as ‘race’ has endured as a way to discriminate and oppress people, which persist to this day, sometimes in seemingly neutral contexts. Bodies are wrapped with clothing, adorned with tattoos, and modified through cosmetic surgery, but how these practices take place is always informed by their social, cultural, and political contexts.
