Embodiment theory in anthropology

Embodiment theory speaks to the ways that experiences are enlivened, materialized, and situated in the world through the body. Embodiment is a relatively amorphous and dynamic conceptual framework in anthropological research that emphasizes possibility and process as opposed to definitive typologies.[1] Margaret Lock identifies the late 1970s as the point in the social sciences where we see a new attentiveness to bodily representation and begin a theoretical shift towards developing an ‘Anthropology of the Body.’[2]

Embodiment-based approaches in anthropology were born of dissatisfaction with dualistic interpretations of humanity that created divisions such as mind/body, nature/culture, and object/subject.[1][2] Within these dichotomies, the physical body was historically confined to the realm of the ‘natural’ sciences and was not considered to be a subject of study in cultural and social sciences. When the body was studied or considered in social science contexts employing these dualistic frameworks, it was treated as a categorizable, ‘natural’ object with little recognition of its dynamic or subjective potentialities.[1]

Embodiment theory has been developed and expanded by the work of many scholars, as opposed to being credited to a single thinker.[1] The work of Thomas Csordas and Margaret Lock marks some of the earliest explicit applications of embodiment theory in anthropology.[2][3][4] More recent edited volumes compiled by Margaret Lock, Judith Farquhar, and Frances Mascia-Lees provide a better window into current applications of embodiment theory in anthropology.[5][6] The theoretical background of embodiment is an amalgamation of phenomenology, practice theory, feminist theory, and post-structuralist thought.[7] Mary Douglas, Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Judith Butler, and Michel Foucault are often cited as key precursory conceptual contributors to embodiment theory.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d Harris, Anna (2016-08-30). "Embodiment". Oxford Bibliographies: 9780199766567–0151. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199766567-0151.
  2. ^ a b c Lock, Margaret (1993). "Cultivating the Body: Anthropology and Epistemologies of Bodily Practice and Knowledge". Annual Review of Anthropology. 22 (1): 133–155. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.22.100193.001025. ISSN 0084-6570.
  3. ^ Embodiment and experience : the existential ground of culture and self. Thomas J. Csordas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994. ISBN 0-521-45256-2. OCLC 29521547.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Csordas, Thomas J. (1990). "Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology". Ethos. 18 (1): 5–47. doi:10.1525/eth.1990.18.1.02a00010. ISSN 0091-2131. JSTOR 640395.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Mascia-Lees, Frances E. (2013). A companion to the anthropology of the body and embodiment. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-78268-321-6. OCLC 841495496.
  7. ^ a b Crossland, Zoë (2012-09-18). Hicks, Dan; Beaudry, Mary C. (eds.). Materiality and Embodiment. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199218714.013.0016.