Escape Narrative?
•How can we get the “body” back in?
•Discursive bodies vs embodiment
“The body” is an
abstraction, implied by heterogeneous, overlapping systems of
discourse and material practices; it is produced by medical, legal, political, and
economic regulations, norms, and conceptualizations applied to actual
physical bodies as objects to be ordered, organized and interpreted. On the
other side of these concepts and schemas for action are the individual
material body and its experiences, which though interpreted by the individual him-
or herself and society in terms of “the body” are never fully captured
and assimilated into discourse. The two poles stand in tension and are
constantly interacting with one another. Discursive constructions of the
body are constantly applied to embodied action, while inadequacies of fit
among abstraction, intention, and individual experience open fissures
motivating efforts to modify or build different discursive regimes.