Between the War for Independence and the Civil War, the young United States forged a distinct cultural profile. In that same period, the human body came increasingly under scrutiny: science, social practice, political contests, and theatrical representations all grappled with the body’s forms, meaning, and expressivity. This research investigates the intricate braiding of political, scientific, and danced representations of the body, focusing particularly on blackface minstrelsy and on ballet in antebellum Philadelphia, a city both representative of national trends and also distinct in its cultural, historic, and geographic position.

Humanity's challenge in the 21st century is global - to eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity for all within the means of the planet’s limited natural resources. Economist Kate Raworth presents a visual framework – shaped like a doughnut. This model brings planetary boundaries (such as healthy climate, biodiversity, limited land, and freshwater) together with social boundaries (such as necessary levels of food and water availability, adequate jobs and income, health, and education) to create a safe and just space in which humanity can thrive and the planet survive. To move into this space demands far greater fairness – within and between countries – in the use of natural resources, and far greater efficiency to transform those limited resources to meet human needs than at present.