People everywhere have attempted to change their bodies in an effort to meet their cultural standards of beauty, as well as their religious and/or social obliga

Explores the human body alphabetically by part, detailing practices and beliefs from the past and present and from around the world.

Elaborating the history, variety, pervasiveness, and function of the adornments and ornaments with which we beautify ourselves, this book takes in human prehist

In recent years, body studies has expanded rapidly, becoming an increasingly popular field of study within anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. This g

This scholarly work is the most comprehensive existing resource on human physical appearance—how people’s outer physical characteristics and their inner per