The Body as Method? Reflections on the Place of the Body in Gender History

Abstract

This article offers a critical examination of the term ‘body’ as an ambiguous and elusive historical concept. The first part of the essay probes the often unspecific yet seductive invocation of the body in many recent historical studies and reflects on the methodological implications of placing bodies at the heart of historical investigation. The second part analyses a particular moment of rupture in twentieth‐century German history, when bodies became more powerful markers of the dichotomy between male and female citizens, namely at the end of the First World War, during the November Revolution and amidst the founding of Weimar democracy.