This document discusses the concept of "somatic modes of attention" as a way to understand embodiment from a phenomenological perspective in anthropology. It defines somatic modes of attention as culturally elaborated ways of attending to and with one's own body, as well as the bodies of others, in social and perceptual experiences. This perspective views the body not as a static object but as an active subject that is the basis for perception and engagement with the world. The document argues that analyzing somatic modes of attention can provide insights into cultural understandings of the body, self, and social relations beyond just symbolic or representational approaches.
Inmate subcultures develop unique systems of values, social hierarchies, languages, and economies. Three main theories explain their origins: (1) the deprivation model cites the loss of autonomy in prison as driving the formation of oppositional subcultures, (2) the importation model argues criminal street codes are imported into prison, and (3) the situational model sees subcultures as adapting to each prison environment. While men establish dominance hierarchies, women form supportive "fictive families." Gender differences in inmate codes show the need for more research on women's experiences in prison.
The document discusses Ferdinand Tönnies' distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society), and how Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy of organism provides a framework for understanding human communities. Whitehead viewed actual entities as interconnected "drops of experience." He defined prehension as how one actual entity can include others. Societies are groupings of actual entities with a defining characteristic inherited by members. Human communities are complex "societies of societies" where social coordination influences member behavior. The unity of a community involves members being united in will, purpose, heart, mind or love, rather than mere togetherness, uniformity or crowd mentality.
Conscious vs mechanical evolution: transcending biocentrist social ontologies Luke Barnesmoore o
This article expounds a new theory of humanity that problematizes the discrete, biomaterialist and materially rational individual of Modernity through sensitivity to the human potential for Conscious Evolution (evolution of the ‘invisible self’, which is to say the cultivation of reason, free will, intuition and the other ‘high epistemological faculties’ that allow humans to actualize the potential for self-mediation of the biological desires and animal (irrational) passions). After defining Conscious Evolution, comparing it with Mechanical Evolution and providing a brief overview of the epistemological processes involved in Conscious Evolution, we examine the ways in which Modernism axiomatically, logically and practically negates the potential for Conscious Evolution and self-mediation as well as the manifestations of this negation in Modernist epistemology and Modernist social systems like Economic Theology or ‘the police’ that, due to their biomaterialist understanding of humans as discrete, biological, materially rational individuals, aim to mediate biological desires and animal passions through external, forceful, hierarchical domination rather than the cultivation of Conscious Evolution and subsequent actualization of the potential for self-mediation. This critique of epistemological and social systems that seek to create order through external, forceful, hierarchical domination sets the stage for a follow up paper titled “Conscious Evolution, Social Development and Environmental Justice” that critiques contemporary Planning Theory and Practice and calls for planning of social systems from a theoretical perspective where seeking to cultivate Conscious Evolution and the actualization of the social order implicit in the self-mediation made potential by Conscious Evolution is possible (which is to say that (r)evolution of theory must precede (r)evolution of practice).
The document discusses the works and collaborations of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It provides brief biographies of each thinker and outlines some of their key philosophical concepts, including rhizomes, deterritorialization, lines of flight, machinic assemblages, body without organs, and plateaus. It also notes their collaborative works including Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, which applied psychoanalytic and Marxist concepts to develop a philosophy of schizoanalysis and critique of capitalism.
Learning, Insight, and Innovation in Animals in the Context of EvolutionOleg Nekrassovski
This document summarizes the historical progress of research on learning, insight, and innovation in animals from an evolutionary context. It discusses key figures like Darwin, Romanes, Thorndike, and Pavlov and their major contributions. Darwin's works in the 1870s laid the groundwork for later studies by emphasizing associative learning and social learning in animals. Romanes collected many anecdotes about animal behavior but his evidence was unreliable. Thorndike established experimental methods to study learning processes like trial-and-error and imitation, refuting ideas of animal insight. Pavlov introduced new objective methods to study brain functions and conditioned reflexes.
This document discusses the concept of "knowledge weaving" as a transdisciplinary method for connecting different fields of study. It involves stretching imagination to build new ways of knowing and creating communities of shared understanding. Under pressures of global academic restructuring, knowledge production must address multiple audiences with limited control. The digital environment further complicates knowledge by morphing and funding information in new ways. Transdisciplinary work requires engaging a diversity of perspectives without abandoning commitments or objects of study. It also means attentiveness to varying levels of detail across disciplines.
Footprints in the world of cybernetics and social constructionRachelle Heath
This document discusses the history and development of cybernetics and social construction theories in psychology and family therapy. It traces cybernetics back to its Greek origins and discusses how early theorists like Gregory Bateson established concepts of feedback loops and paradoxical patterns of communication. Groups like the Palo Alto Group and the Mental Health Institute applied these cybernetics concepts to develop strategic and systemic family therapy models. Over time, the field shifted from a first-order cybernetics view that observed families externally to a second-order cybernetics and social constructionist perspective that saw realities as socially and mentally constructed. Major figures like Ernst Von Glasersfeld and Heinz Von Foerster contributed to this postmodern shift focusing on language, culture
This document contains summaries of chapters 1, 2 and 3 from motivation notes.
Chapter 1 discusses the importance of motivation for both individuals and organizations. It defines motivation and the key elements and types of human behavior. Chapter 2 covers fundamental concepts in motivation including dualism and various determinants of behavior such as knowledge, will, hedonism and instinct. It also discusses the evolutionary theory.
Chapter 3 focuses on Darwin's theory of evolution, which proposed that species evolve and adapt through natural selection and the transmission of survivors' characteristics to offspring, leading to modifications within a species.
Inmate subcultures develop unique systems of values, social hierarchies, languages, and economies. Three main theories explain their origins: (1) the deprivation model cites the loss of autonomy in prison as driving the formation of oppositional subcultures, (2) the importation model argues criminal street codes are imported into prison, and (3) the situational model sees subcultures as adapting to each prison environment. While men establish dominance hierarchies, women form supportive "fictive families." Gender differences in inmate codes show the need for more research on women's experiences in prison.
The document discusses Ferdinand Tönnies' distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society), and how Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy of organism provides a framework for understanding human communities. Whitehead viewed actual entities as interconnected "drops of experience." He defined prehension as how one actual entity can include others. Societies are groupings of actual entities with a defining characteristic inherited by members. Human communities are complex "societies of societies" where social coordination influences member behavior. The unity of a community involves members being united in will, purpose, heart, mind or love, rather than mere togetherness, uniformity or crowd mentality.
Conscious vs mechanical evolution: transcending biocentrist social ontologies Luke Barnesmoore o
This article expounds a new theory of humanity that problematizes the discrete, biomaterialist and materially rational individual of Modernity through sensitivity to the human potential for Conscious Evolution (evolution of the ‘invisible self’, which is to say the cultivation of reason, free will, intuition and the other ‘high epistemological faculties’ that allow humans to actualize the potential for self-mediation of the biological desires and animal (irrational) passions). After defining Conscious Evolution, comparing it with Mechanical Evolution and providing a brief overview of the epistemological processes involved in Conscious Evolution, we examine the ways in which Modernism axiomatically, logically and practically negates the potential for Conscious Evolution and self-mediation as well as the manifestations of this negation in Modernist epistemology and Modernist social systems like Economic Theology or ‘the police’ that, due to their biomaterialist understanding of humans as discrete, biological, materially rational individuals, aim to mediate biological desires and animal passions through external, forceful, hierarchical domination rather than the cultivation of Conscious Evolution and subsequent actualization of the potential for self-mediation. This critique of epistemological and social systems that seek to create order through external, forceful, hierarchical domination sets the stage for a follow up paper titled “Conscious Evolution, Social Development and Environmental Justice” that critiques contemporary Planning Theory and Practice and calls for planning of social systems from a theoretical perspective where seeking to cultivate Conscious Evolution and the actualization of the social order implicit in the self-mediation made potential by Conscious Evolution is possible (which is to say that (r)evolution of theory must precede (r)evolution of practice).
The document discusses the works and collaborations of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It provides brief biographies of each thinker and outlines some of their key philosophical concepts, including rhizomes, deterritorialization, lines of flight, machinic assemblages, body without organs, and plateaus. It also notes their collaborative works including Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, which applied psychoanalytic and Marxist concepts to develop a philosophy of schizoanalysis and critique of capitalism.
Learning, Insight, and Innovation in Animals in the Context of EvolutionOleg Nekrassovski
This document summarizes the historical progress of research on learning, insight, and innovation in animals from an evolutionary context. It discusses key figures like Darwin, Romanes, Thorndike, and Pavlov and their major contributions. Darwin's works in the 1870s laid the groundwork for later studies by emphasizing associative learning and social learning in animals. Romanes collected many anecdotes about animal behavior but his evidence was unreliable. Thorndike established experimental methods to study learning processes like trial-and-error and imitation, refuting ideas of animal insight. Pavlov introduced new objective methods to study brain functions and conditioned reflexes.
This document discusses the concept of "knowledge weaving" as a transdisciplinary method for connecting different fields of study. It involves stretching imagination to build new ways of knowing and creating communities of shared understanding. Under pressures of global academic restructuring, knowledge production must address multiple audiences with limited control. The digital environment further complicates knowledge by morphing and funding information in new ways. Transdisciplinary work requires engaging a diversity of perspectives without abandoning commitments or objects of study. It also means attentiveness to varying levels of detail across disciplines.
Footprints in the world of cybernetics and social constructionRachelle Heath
This document discusses the history and development of cybernetics and social construction theories in psychology and family therapy. It traces cybernetics back to its Greek origins and discusses how early theorists like Gregory Bateson established concepts of feedback loops and paradoxical patterns of communication. Groups like the Palo Alto Group and the Mental Health Institute applied these cybernetics concepts to develop strategic and systemic family therapy models. Over time, the field shifted from a first-order cybernetics view that observed families externally to a second-order cybernetics and social constructionist perspective that saw realities as socially and mentally constructed. Major figures like Ernst Von Glasersfeld and Heinz Von Foerster contributed to this postmodern shift focusing on language, culture
This document contains summaries of chapters 1, 2 and 3 from motivation notes.
Chapter 1 discusses the importance of motivation for both individuals and organizations. It defines motivation and the key elements and types of human behavior. Chapter 2 covers fundamental concepts in motivation including dualism and various determinants of behavior such as knowledge, will, hedonism and instinct. It also discusses the evolutionary theory.
Chapter 3 focuses on Darwin's theory of evolution, which proposed that species evolve and adapt through natural selection and the transmission of survivors' characteristics to offspring, leading to modifications within a species.
A Preliminary Survey of Darwin Marx and Wagner in Light of Karl Popper Thomas...Joe Scherrer
This document provides background on the theories of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Richard Wagner. It discusses the key elements of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Marx's approach to political economy including historical materialism and dialectical method, and Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. The document aims to examine the legacies and impacts of these thinkers in light of Thomas Kuhn's concept of paradigm shifts and Imre Lakatos' concept of research programs to determine if their work drove major changes or less significant developments. It outlines the structure of the analysis to follow.
Body and Embodiment: Media Extension, Disembodiment, and the CyborgElizabeth Gartley
The document discusses concepts related to the body, embodiment, media extension, disembodiment, and the cyborg. It defines embodiment as the experience of having a body and explains it is contextual and enmeshed within culture. Media extension refers to media and technology extending human senses and faculties. Biomedia is the intersection of biology and computer science, with the body as a medium. Science fiction explores questions around embodiment, disembodiment, and blurring lines between human and machine. Disembodiment refers to divorcing mind and body through technological integration. The cyborg conceptualizes the relationship between extended bodies, media technologies, and cyberspace.
This document summarizes an ethnographic study of arrow-making among the Awá hunter-gatherers of Brazil. The authors observed that arrow-making is more than just a functional or symbolic activity, but is deeply intertwined with Awá men's sense of self. They argue that a relational-ontological approach is needed to understand the relationship between people and objects in non-modern societies. This perspective sees humans and things as mutually constitutive, with agency distributed among both. The case of the Awá offers opportunities to investigate technologies of the self in other societies from this perspective.
What would Darwin do about classification? Would he be a cladist, or an evolutionary systematist, or something else? Why do scientists appeal to precursors like this?
Structuralism, Post-structuralism, and StructurationDanielle Dirks
This document outlines three schools of thought - structuralism, post-structuralism, and structuration. Structuralism sees our lives as determined by impersonal social structures that pre-exist us. Post-structuralism emerged from structuralism and rejects Enlightenment reason, focusing on interconnected power-knowledge and disciplinary power that imprints on bodies. Structuration theory links structure and agency interactively, rejecting a strict dichotomy between the two. Theorists discussed include de Saussure, Foucault, Lacan, Althusser, Derrida, Bourdieu, and Giddens.
Plato argued that societies require a "noble lie" to maintain social control and stability. In his work The Republic, he describes an ideal city divided into categories of rulers, auxiliaries, and farmers, with each person's place determined by the metal found in their soul - gold, silver, or iron. The rulers would tell the noble lie that this categorization was due to God's will rather than circumstances. The lie was meant to keep the lower classes content with their place in the social structure.
Vitorino Ramos: on the implicit and on the artificialArchiLab 7
This document discusses emergent behavior and artificial life. It argues that complex behavior can arise from simple interactions between many parts, without a global controller. An artificial system that exhibits this type of self-organization and emergent behavior could be viewed as an artificial superorganism. The document also discusses how traditional reductionist approaches in biology and sociology have given way to recognizing intrinsic complexity and emergent properties arising from decentralized interactions between autonomous components.
50 words for snow: constructing scientific phenomenaJohn Wilkins
The document discusses the construction of natural phenomena in science. It addresses questions around what phenomena are, how we identify them, and whether they are self-presenting, theory-based, or just patterns in data.
The key points are:
1) Phenomena are observable regularities with salient characteristics that recur under certain conditions.
2) Our observations and categories of phenomena are influenced by our theories and expectations, but we can also identify phenomena in the absence of theory.
3) Phenomena are patterns we discern in observational data based on prior experience with clear cases, but they need not be theory-based. Species are examples of phenomena.
The Socio Cultural Evolution Of Our Species CopiaTony Valderrama
The document discusses the socio-cultural evolution of human societies and civilizations. It defines key concepts like culture, social structure, and socio-cultural evolution. Socio-cultural evolution differs from biological evolution in that humans can pass cultural achievements to future generations, similar to Lamarckian inheritance. While humans evolved biologically for hundreds of thousands of years, socio-cultural evolution only began around 10,000 years ago as societies became more complex. The relationship between roles that maintain traditions and roles that enable creativity is an important factor influencing a society's evolutionary potential. Mathematical models explore how socio-cultural evolution occurs through the interactions of social actors occupying different roles.
Marxism offers workers a clear understanding of society and their place within it. It provides a new world outlook and a future. The theories of Marxism give workers a framework to understand the complexities of capitalist society and class struggle. Dialectical materialism developed from the ideas of Marx, Engels, Hegel and others to provide a scientific understanding of society and evolution based on the principles of dialectics. Trotsky's ABC of Dialectical Materialism provides a concise explanation of Marxist philosophy and dialectical materialism.
This document provides summaries and citations for several key texts in critical theory, cultural studies, Marxism, and media studies. It includes summaries of works by Gramsci, Horkheimer and Adorno, Foucault, Debord, Hall, Barthes, McLuhan, Morgan & Purje, Mulvey, Halberstam, Lacan, Foucault, Tavin and Tavin, Marx and Engels, Hill-Collins, Dyer, Habermas, and Jameson that discuss concepts like ideology, spectacle, panopticism, subjectivation, encoding/decoding, myth, media, queer theory, and postmodernism.
This document discusses the role of dualism and materialism in the women's rights movement from the 17th to 18th centuries. It explains that early feminists adopted dualism's view of the mind having no gender to argue for women's intellect. However, dualism was later seen as furthering women's subjugation. Philosophers like Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Cavendish supported materialism's view of the unified mind and body, allowing women to claim rights over their physical selves. As materialism gained acceptance, it provided academic justification for women having equal control over their bodies and minds.
The document discusses several key aspects of feminist thought and critiques of science:
1) It outlines feminist views that seek gender equality and recognize how gender ideologies impact social structures.
2) Ecofeminism views the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.
3) Object relations theory holds that differences in how male and female children develop gender identities impact their relationships to nature and science.
4) Feminist critiques call for more democratic and inclusive approaches to science that consider interdependence.
The document discusses Darwin's theory of evolution and its relationship to motivation. It explains that Darwin observed that organisms better adapted to their environment were more likely to survive and pass on their traits, a process he called natural selection. This led psychologists after Darwin to study motivation from an evolutionary perspective, looking at how behaviors increased chances of survival. The theory helped establish psychology as a biological science and motivated the study of instincts and how they guided behavior in pursuit of survival and reproduction.
This short document promotes creating presentations using Haiku Deck, a tool for making slideshows. It encourages the reader to get started making their own Haiku Deck presentation and sharing it on SlideShare. In just one sentence, it pitches the idea of using Haiku Deck to easily design slideshows.
Attracted by the future, conditioned by the past, shaped by our decisions … t...Massimo Schinco
Denied memories and affections hinder the arising of the social identity of a place, as well as the possibility of sharing the way we experience it. However, we should not think that the present reality of a place derives only from its past. A community has to find an agreement on the future of the place, in terms of values, affections and practical finalities. This will determine the way people will work on the place and its future use. All the decisions and their practical realization, as well as the way the place will be used, can be facilitated or hindered depending on the relationship with the past. The modification of this relationship might take time. We have to accept that, in some cases, the social identity of a place might remain outstanding for a while. Thus, elaborating memories and affections as a community is a moment of the utmost importance in a wider process, which is future-oriented and defined by the responsibility of people deciding here and now. Concrete examples and theoretical foundations of our claim will be provided.
The Human Right to Be a Future Oriented ChildMassimo Schinco
The document discusses the human right of children to feel and be future-oriented. It describes 10 conditions that characterize a future-oriented child, including having a sense of curiosity about the world represented by an "exclamative point"; feeling safe enough to explore through "leaning out"; experiencing continuity in life despite discontinuities; using humor; staying in touch with feelings; searching for meaning; receiving education; and feeling tension between adventures and safety. The presentation argues that violence and authoritarianism impair children's ability to be future-oriented and their right to have a future.
The Systemic Therapy Between Science and Intuition - Krakow versionMassimo Schinco
In this presentation I return – with several modifications -to issues I already treated and also recently.
This new version has been prepared for the Conference “The Anatomy of (un)reason” held in Krakòw, Poland, October 10 – 12° 2014.
The presentation has to be followed by Massimo Giuliani’s presentation “Beyond Medicine – Beyond Psychology – Beyond Post- Modernism: The Milan Approach to Systemic Psychotherapy”:
http://prezi.com/2lgk1ozulcx7/the-milan-approach-to-systemic-psychotherapy/
This document provides a psychographic profile of scientists based on research into their personality traits and career motivations. It finds that scientists are driven by curiosity, perseverance, and a passion for discovery. They value fulfilling work, opportunities for innovation, and supportive environments that allow autonomy. Organizations can attract and retain scientific talent by offering mentorship programs, flexible work structures, opportunities for growth, and investment in training to develop new skills. The profile examines differences between lab scientists and clinical scientists, as well as factors such as global opportunities that motivate scientists in their careers.
This document provides a list of 10 photographers credited for their photos used in a Haiku Deck presentation on SlideShare. It concludes by encouraging the reader to get started creating their own Haiku Deck presentation.
Quantum Field Theory and the Limits of KnowledgeSean Carroll
A seminar, given to philosophers, on how quantum field theory allows us to delineate known from unknown in fundamental physics, and why the laws of physics underlying everyday phenomena are known.
A Critique Of The Philosophical Underpinnings Of Mainstream Social Science Re...Charlie Congdon
This document provides a critique of the philosophical underpinnings of mainstream social science research. It suggests that social science research is typically underpinned by a naïve realist ontological position, a positivist epistemological position, and a value-free axiological position. However, these positions promote a Eurocentric perspective. As an alternative, the document proposes a "muliversal" ontological position, a positivist-hermeneutic epistemological position that acknowledges the role of interpretation, and a value-laden axiological position for social science research conducted by non-Western scholars. This would help produce more context-relevant knowledge.
A Preliminary Survey of Darwin Marx and Wagner in Light of Karl Popper Thomas...Joe Scherrer
This document provides background on the theories of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Richard Wagner. It discusses the key elements of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Marx's approach to political economy including historical materialism and dialectical method, and Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. The document aims to examine the legacies and impacts of these thinkers in light of Thomas Kuhn's concept of paradigm shifts and Imre Lakatos' concept of research programs to determine if their work drove major changes or less significant developments. It outlines the structure of the analysis to follow.
Body and Embodiment: Media Extension, Disembodiment, and the CyborgElizabeth Gartley
The document discusses concepts related to the body, embodiment, media extension, disembodiment, and the cyborg. It defines embodiment as the experience of having a body and explains it is contextual and enmeshed within culture. Media extension refers to media and technology extending human senses and faculties. Biomedia is the intersection of biology and computer science, with the body as a medium. Science fiction explores questions around embodiment, disembodiment, and blurring lines between human and machine. Disembodiment refers to divorcing mind and body through technological integration. The cyborg conceptualizes the relationship between extended bodies, media technologies, and cyberspace.
This document summarizes an ethnographic study of arrow-making among the Awá hunter-gatherers of Brazil. The authors observed that arrow-making is more than just a functional or symbolic activity, but is deeply intertwined with Awá men's sense of self. They argue that a relational-ontological approach is needed to understand the relationship between people and objects in non-modern societies. This perspective sees humans and things as mutually constitutive, with agency distributed among both. The case of the Awá offers opportunities to investigate technologies of the self in other societies from this perspective.
What would Darwin do about classification? Would he be a cladist, or an evolutionary systematist, or something else? Why do scientists appeal to precursors like this?
Structuralism, Post-structuralism, and StructurationDanielle Dirks
This document outlines three schools of thought - structuralism, post-structuralism, and structuration. Structuralism sees our lives as determined by impersonal social structures that pre-exist us. Post-structuralism emerged from structuralism and rejects Enlightenment reason, focusing on interconnected power-knowledge and disciplinary power that imprints on bodies. Structuration theory links structure and agency interactively, rejecting a strict dichotomy between the two. Theorists discussed include de Saussure, Foucault, Lacan, Althusser, Derrida, Bourdieu, and Giddens.
Plato argued that societies require a "noble lie" to maintain social control and stability. In his work The Republic, he describes an ideal city divided into categories of rulers, auxiliaries, and farmers, with each person's place determined by the metal found in their soul - gold, silver, or iron. The rulers would tell the noble lie that this categorization was due to God's will rather than circumstances. The lie was meant to keep the lower classes content with their place in the social structure.
Vitorino Ramos: on the implicit and on the artificialArchiLab 7
This document discusses emergent behavior and artificial life. It argues that complex behavior can arise from simple interactions between many parts, without a global controller. An artificial system that exhibits this type of self-organization and emergent behavior could be viewed as an artificial superorganism. The document also discusses how traditional reductionist approaches in biology and sociology have given way to recognizing intrinsic complexity and emergent properties arising from decentralized interactions between autonomous components.
50 words for snow: constructing scientific phenomenaJohn Wilkins
The document discusses the construction of natural phenomena in science. It addresses questions around what phenomena are, how we identify them, and whether they are self-presenting, theory-based, or just patterns in data.
The key points are:
1) Phenomena are observable regularities with salient characteristics that recur under certain conditions.
2) Our observations and categories of phenomena are influenced by our theories and expectations, but we can also identify phenomena in the absence of theory.
3) Phenomena are patterns we discern in observational data based on prior experience with clear cases, but they need not be theory-based. Species are examples of phenomena.
The Socio Cultural Evolution Of Our Species CopiaTony Valderrama
The document discusses the socio-cultural evolution of human societies and civilizations. It defines key concepts like culture, social structure, and socio-cultural evolution. Socio-cultural evolution differs from biological evolution in that humans can pass cultural achievements to future generations, similar to Lamarckian inheritance. While humans evolved biologically for hundreds of thousands of years, socio-cultural evolution only began around 10,000 years ago as societies became more complex. The relationship between roles that maintain traditions and roles that enable creativity is an important factor influencing a society's evolutionary potential. Mathematical models explore how socio-cultural evolution occurs through the interactions of social actors occupying different roles.
Marxism offers workers a clear understanding of society and their place within it. It provides a new world outlook and a future. The theories of Marxism give workers a framework to understand the complexities of capitalist society and class struggle. Dialectical materialism developed from the ideas of Marx, Engels, Hegel and others to provide a scientific understanding of society and evolution based on the principles of dialectics. Trotsky's ABC of Dialectical Materialism provides a concise explanation of Marxist philosophy and dialectical materialism.
This document provides summaries and citations for several key texts in critical theory, cultural studies, Marxism, and media studies. It includes summaries of works by Gramsci, Horkheimer and Adorno, Foucault, Debord, Hall, Barthes, McLuhan, Morgan & Purje, Mulvey, Halberstam, Lacan, Foucault, Tavin and Tavin, Marx and Engels, Hill-Collins, Dyer, Habermas, and Jameson that discuss concepts like ideology, spectacle, panopticism, subjectivation, encoding/decoding, myth, media, queer theory, and postmodernism.
This document discusses the role of dualism and materialism in the women's rights movement from the 17th to 18th centuries. It explains that early feminists adopted dualism's view of the mind having no gender to argue for women's intellect. However, dualism was later seen as furthering women's subjugation. Philosophers like Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Cavendish supported materialism's view of the unified mind and body, allowing women to claim rights over their physical selves. As materialism gained acceptance, it provided academic justification for women having equal control over their bodies and minds.
The document discusses several key aspects of feminist thought and critiques of science:
1) It outlines feminist views that seek gender equality and recognize how gender ideologies impact social structures.
2) Ecofeminism views the oppression of women and nature as interconnected.
3) Object relations theory holds that differences in how male and female children develop gender identities impact their relationships to nature and science.
4) Feminist critiques call for more democratic and inclusive approaches to science that consider interdependence.
The document discusses Darwin's theory of evolution and its relationship to motivation. It explains that Darwin observed that organisms better adapted to their environment were more likely to survive and pass on their traits, a process he called natural selection. This led psychologists after Darwin to study motivation from an evolutionary perspective, looking at how behaviors increased chances of survival. The theory helped establish psychology as a biological science and motivated the study of instincts and how they guided behavior in pursuit of survival and reproduction.
This short document promotes creating presentations using Haiku Deck, a tool for making slideshows. It encourages the reader to get started making their own Haiku Deck presentation and sharing it on SlideShare. In just one sentence, it pitches the idea of using Haiku Deck to easily design slideshows.
Attracted by the future, conditioned by the past, shaped by our decisions … t...Massimo Schinco
Denied memories and affections hinder the arising of the social identity of a place, as well as the possibility of sharing the way we experience it. However, we should not think that the present reality of a place derives only from its past. A community has to find an agreement on the future of the place, in terms of values, affections and practical finalities. This will determine the way people will work on the place and its future use. All the decisions and their practical realization, as well as the way the place will be used, can be facilitated or hindered depending on the relationship with the past. The modification of this relationship might take time. We have to accept that, in some cases, the social identity of a place might remain outstanding for a while. Thus, elaborating memories and affections as a community is a moment of the utmost importance in a wider process, which is future-oriented and defined by the responsibility of people deciding here and now. Concrete examples and theoretical foundations of our claim will be provided.
The Human Right to Be a Future Oriented ChildMassimo Schinco
The document discusses the human right of children to feel and be future-oriented. It describes 10 conditions that characterize a future-oriented child, including having a sense of curiosity about the world represented by an "exclamative point"; feeling safe enough to explore through "leaning out"; experiencing continuity in life despite discontinuities; using humor; staying in touch with feelings; searching for meaning; receiving education; and feeling tension between adventures and safety. The presentation argues that violence and authoritarianism impair children's ability to be future-oriented and their right to have a future.
The Systemic Therapy Between Science and Intuition - Krakow versionMassimo Schinco
In this presentation I return – with several modifications -to issues I already treated and also recently.
This new version has been prepared for the Conference “The Anatomy of (un)reason” held in Krakòw, Poland, October 10 – 12° 2014.
The presentation has to be followed by Massimo Giuliani’s presentation “Beyond Medicine – Beyond Psychology – Beyond Post- Modernism: The Milan Approach to Systemic Psychotherapy”:
http://prezi.com/2lgk1ozulcx7/the-milan-approach-to-systemic-psychotherapy/
This document provides a psychographic profile of scientists based on research into their personality traits and career motivations. It finds that scientists are driven by curiosity, perseverance, and a passion for discovery. They value fulfilling work, opportunities for innovation, and supportive environments that allow autonomy. Organizations can attract and retain scientific talent by offering mentorship programs, flexible work structures, opportunities for growth, and investment in training to develop new skills. The profile examines differences between lab scientists and clinical scientists, as well as factors such as global opportunities that motivate scientists in their careers.
This document provides a list of 10 photographers credited for their photos used in a Haiku Deck presentation on SlideShare. It concludes by encouraging the reader to get started creating their own Haiku Deck presentation.
Quantum Field Theory and the Limits of KnowledgeSean Carroll
A seminar, given to philosophers, on how quantum field theory allows us to delineate known from unknown in fundamental physics, and why the laws of physics underlying everyday phenomena are known.
A Critique Of The Philosophical Underpinnings Of Mainstream Social Science Re...Charlie Congdon
This document provides a critique of the philosophical underpinnings of mainstream social science research. It suggests that social science research is typically underpinned by a naïve realist ontological position, a positivist epistemological position, and a value-free axiological position. However, these positions promote a Eurocentric perspective. As an alternative, the document proposes a "muliversal" ontological position, a positivist-hermeneutic epistemological position that acknowledges the role of interpretation, and a value-laden axiological position for social science research conducted by non-Western scholars. This would help produce more context-relevant knowledge.
This passage discusses the nature of reality through an examination of how the Azande people of Africa understand their oracles. It makes three key points:
1. The Azande's belief in their oracles is an "incorrigible proposition" that is assumed to be true regardless of any contradictory experiences, similar to mathematical axioms.
2. Their reality is constructed through ritual practices that transform tree bark into a vessel for the oracle's messages. Contradictions only exist from an outside Western scientific perspective, not from within their own reality.
3. When contradictions occur, the Azande employ "secondary elaborations of belief" to explain them while still maintaining the absolute reality of their or
This document discusses theories of embodiment and how they can provide new perspectives on aging. It outlines key developments in the sociology of the body, including social construction perspectives and phenomenology, which challenged Cartesian dualism and the separation of mind and body. These theories have brought aging bodies and the lived experiences of aging into focus. The document examines how aging has been constructed primarily as a biological process and discusses theorists like Foucault and Katz who analyzed how medicine has shaped understandings of aging. Theories of embodiment allow rethinking assumptions about what growing old entails.
SPECIAL ISSUE CRITICAL REALISM IN IS RESEARCHCRITICAL RE.docxsusanschei
This document provides an introduction to critical realism as a philosophy and framework for information systems research. It discusses the key concepts of critical realism such as the ontological view that an objective reality exists independently of our knowledge, and the stratified view of reality consisting of the real, actual, and empirical domains. Critical realism supports methodological pluralism using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to study different types of objects. The document also discusses how critical realism has been applied in social science research, focusing on the work of Margaret Archer and Tony Lawson in developing critical realist approaches within their fields.
This document discusses some of the challenges faced by anthropologists in their fieldwork, using Napolean Chagnon and Claire Sterk as examples. Chagnon had difficulties communicating with the Yanomamo people he was studying for the first six months. He also struggled with their aggressive demands. Sterk faced issues with gaining trust from a closed community she was studying. Overall, the document notes that while anthropology can be intellectually fulfilling, fieldwork often involves bumps in the road and challenges with interacting with cultural groups.
Origins and Elements of Human Governing Behaviors.pdfShababb Hussain
The origins and development of governing in the human species can be
described on two timescales (Richerson et al. 2003, 383). The frst is the
long period during the Pleistocene when our social instincts were honed
by living in small and mobile hunter-gatherer groups. During this time,
many genetic changes occurred as a function of humans living in groups
with social institutions that were heavily infuenced by culture. At this timescale
of hundreds of thousands of years, genes and culture coevolved. The
second is the short period of the past 10,000 years, the Holocene, when
people replaced a nomadic life with a sedentary existence. At this timescale,
genetic changes were fairly insignifcant, while the cultural changes turned
out to be ever larger and faster.
Resistance and the problem of - Ortner Laura Calle
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This document summarizes a research paper that analyzes the historical evolution of the concept of determinism, with a focus on how modern science has developed a stronger idea of determinism. It begins by defining determinism and exploring its etymology. Determinism generally refers to the idea that all events, including human actions, are ultimately caused by preceding factors. The document then discusses different types of determinism, such as logical, theological, psychological, and physical determinism. It concludes that modern biology and genetics are constructing a more rigid framework of determinism than theology, by limiting the scope of chance and accident.
Theory in anthropology since the sixties sherry ortnerLaura Calle
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Sage Publications, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitajoy21
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Doing Gender
Author(s): Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman
Source: Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 1987), pp. 125-151
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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DOING GENDER
CANDACE WEST
University of California, Santa Cruz
DON H. ZIMMERMAN
University of California, Santa Barbara
The purpose of this article is to advance a new understanding of gender as a routine
accomplishment embedded in everyday interaction. To do so entails a critical
assessment of existing perspectives on sex and gender and the introduction of
important distinctions among sex, sex category, and gender. We argue that recognition
of the analytical independence of these concepts is essential for understanding the
interactional work involved in being a gendered person in society. The thrust of our
remarks is toward theoretical reconceptualization, but we consider fruitful directions
for empirical research that are indicated by our formulation.
In the beginning, there was sex and there was gender. Those of us
who taught courses in the area in the late 1960s and early 1970s were
careful to distinguish one from the other. Sex, we told students, was
what was ascribed by biology: anatomy, hormones, and physiology.
Gender, we said, was an achieved status: that which is constructed
through psychological, cultural, and social means. To introduce the
difference between the two, we drew on singular case studies of
hermaphrodites (Money 1968, 1974; Money and Ehrhardt 1972) and
anthropological investigations of "strange and exotic tribes" (Mead
1963, 1968).
Inevitably (and understandably), in the ensuing weeks of each
term, our students became confused. Sex hardly seemed a "given" in
AUTHORS' NOTE: This article is based in part on a paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, September 1977. ...
Bba L02 Dt Sociological Concepts And PerspectivesShabbir Terai
The document provides an overview of sociological concepts and perspectives. It defines theory, discusses the importance of social theory in sociology, and outlines some key perspectives in sociology including evolutionary, functionalist, and conflict perspectives. It also briefly introduces some pioneering contributors to sociology such as Ibn Khaldun, Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, William Graham Sumner, and Herbert Spencer.
Sujay Identity and identity change FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL.pdfSujay Rao Mandavilli
This document proposes a generalized approach to collective and individual identity formation that could apply across cultures. It discusses the importance of identity modulation, dilution, and neutralization while introducing concepts like the "psychic unity of mankind" and dangers of identity polarization. The approach is linked to theories in anthropology, sociology, psychology, and human development. It advocates for ethnographic fieldwork in diverse contexts and pedagogical reform to shape identity and promote ethnic harmony in a globalized world.
Sujay Identity and identity change FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL.pdfSujay Rao Mandavilli
This document proposes a generalized approach to collective and individual identity formation that could apply across cultures. It discusses the importance of identity modulation, dilution, and neutralization while introducing concepts like the "psychic unity of mankind" and dangers of identity polarization. The approach is linked to theories in anthropology, sociology, psychology, and human development. It advocates for ethnographic fieldwork in diverse contexts and pedagogical reform to shape identity and promote ethnic harmony in a globalized world.
The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations ThMoseStaton39
The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory
Author(s): Alexander E. Wendt
Source: International Organization, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Summer, 1987), pp. 335-370
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2706749
Accessed: 28-12-2016 23:35 UTC
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Organization
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The agent-structure problem
in international relations theory
Alexander E. Wendt
Two theories, neorealism and world-system theory, strongly influence con-
temporary academic discourse about international relations. Both claim to
provide "structural" explanations of how states behave in the international
system. Despite their common commitment to structural analysis, however,
their understanding of system "structure," and therefore of structural expla-
nation, is quite different. Neorealists define international system structures
in terms of the observable attributes of their member states (the "distribu-
tion of capabilities"), and as a result, they understand the explanatory role
of those structures in individualist terms as constraining the choices of pre-
existing state actors. World-system theorists, on the other hand, define inter-
national system structures in terms of the fundamental organizing principles
of the capitalist world economy which underlie and constitute states, and
thus they understand the explanatory role of structures in structuralist terms
as generating state actors themselves. These differences, and their implica-
tions, have yet to be explicated in the international relations literature.1 In
An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1986 meeting of the International
Studies Association. I want to thank Hayward Alker, Richard Ashley, Raymond Duvall, Jeffrey
Isaac, Brian Job, Stephen Krasner, Peter Manicas, David Sylvan, Jutta Weldes, and two
anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions on previous drafts.
1. There are a number of discussions of the meanings and uses of "structural theory" in
neorealism and world-system theory, but as far as I know, none explicitly compares or differ-
entiates the neorealist and world-system approaches to structure and structural analysis. On
neorealism see, for example, Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, Mass.:
Addison-Wesle ...
This document summarizes an article that examines the relationship between social ties and activism. It notes that previous studies have found social ties and contact with activists predict participation, but these studies lack theoretical precision. They do not explain the dynamics linking ties to activism. Nor do they specify which dimensions of ties (e.g. strength, number) are causally important. Additionally, previous studies ignore that individuals have multiple social networks that may provide conflicting pressures regarding participation. The authors aim to address these issues by developing a model of recruitment as mediated by social ties. They will use this model to analyze how social ties influenced participation in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, examining which tie dimensions were most important and how competing ties affected decisions to participate or
Similar to Csordas somatics modes of attention (20)
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Topics covered:
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Speaker:
Chris Bolin, Senior Intelligent Automation Architect Anika Systems
Main news related to the CCS TSI 2023 (2023/1695)Jakub Marek
An English 🇬🇧 translation of a presentation to the speech I gave about the main changes brought by CCS TSI 2023 at the biggest Czech conference on Communications and signalling systems on Railways, which was held in Clarion Hotel Olomouc from 7th to 9th November 2023 (konferenceszt.cz). Attended by around 500 participants and 200 on-line followers.
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The videorecording (in Czech) from the presentation is available here: https://youtu.be/WzjJWm4IyPk?si=SImb06tuXGb30BEH .
"Frontline Battles with DDoS: Best practices and Lessons Learned", Igor IvaniukFwdays
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The Microsoft 365 Migration Tutorial For Beginner.pptxoperationspcvita
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Chris Jones, Director of Product Management at BrainChip , presents the “Temporal Event Neural Networks: A More Efficient Alternative to the Transformer” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
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Integration with BrainChip’s Akida neuromorphic hardware IP further enhances TENNs’ capabilities, enabling the realization of highly capable, portable and passively cooled edge devices. This presentation delves into the technical innovations underlying TENNs, presents real-world benchmarks, and elucidates how this cutting-edge approach is positioned to revolutionize edge AI across diverse applications.
5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
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Power Grid Model
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Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
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Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
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Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing.pdfssuserfac0301
Read Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing to gain insights on AI adoption in the manufacturing industry, such as:
1. How quickly AI is being implemented in manufacturing.
2. Which barriers stand in the way of AI adoption.
3. How data quality and governance form the backbone of AI.
4. Organizational processes and structures that may inhibit effective AI adoption.
6. Ideas and approaches to help build your organization's AI strategy.
AppSec PNW: Android and iOS Application Security with MobSFAjin Abraham
Mobile Security Framework - MobSF is a free and open source automated mobile application security testing environment designed to help security engineers, researchers, developers, and penetration testers to identify security vulnerabilities, malicious behaviours and privacy concerns in mobile applications using static and dynamic analysis. It supports all the popular mobile application binaries and source code formats built for Android and iOS devices. In addition to automated security assessment, it also offers an interactive testing environment to build and execute scenario based test/fuzz cases against the application.
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Are you ready to revolutionize how you handle data? Join us for a webinar where we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest advancements in Generative AI technology and discover how leveraging FME with tools from giants like Google Gemini, Amazon, and Microsoft OpenAI can supercharge your workflow efficiency.
During the hour, we’ll take you through:
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Imagine an IoT processing system that is already quite mature and production-ready and for which client coverage is growing and scaling and performance aspects are life and death questions. The system has Redis, MongoDB, and stream processing based on ksqldb. In this talk, firstly, we will analyze scaling approaches and then select the proper ones for our system.
1. Somatic Modes of Attention
Author(s): Thomas J. Csordas
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 135-156
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/656467 .
Accessed: 07/02/2013 21:37
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2. Somatic Modes of Attention
Thomas J. Csordas
DepartmentofAnthropology
Case WesternReserveUniversity
Embodimentas a paradigmor methodologicalorientationrequiresthatthe body
be understoodas theexistentialgroundof culture-not as anobjectthatis "good
to think,"but as a subject that is "necessaryto be." To argue by analogy, a
phenomenologicalparadigmof embodimentcan be offeredas anequivalent,and
complement,to thesemioticparadigmof cultureas text.Muchas Barthes(1986)
drawsa distinctionbetween the work and the text, a distinctioncan be drawn
between the body and embodiment. For Barthes, the work is a fragment of
substance,the materialobject thatoccupies the spaceof a bookstoreor a library
shelf.Thetext,incontrast,is anindeterminatemethodologicalfieldthatexistsonly
when caught up in a discourse, and that is experiencedonly as activity and
production(1986:57-68). In parallelfashion, the body is a biological, material
entity,while embodimentcan be understoodas an indeterminatemethodological
field definedby perceptualexperienceandthe modeof presenceandengagement
in theworld.As appliedto anthropology,themodelof thetextmeansthatcultures
can be understood,for purposesof internaland comparativeanalysis, to have
propertiessimilartotexts(Ricoeur1979).Incontrast,theparadigmof embodiment
means not thatcultureshave the same structureas bodily experience, but that
embodiedexperienceis the startingpoint for analyzinghumanparticipationin a
culturalworld.
To best understandthe theoreticalorigin of this problematic,it is useful to
distinguishbetweenwhathas come to be calledtheanthropologyof thebody and
a strandof phenomenology explicitly concerned with embodiment.Although
glimpsesofthebodyhaveappearedregularlythroughoutthehistoryof ethnography
(e.g., Leenhardt1979 [1947]), an anthropologyof the body was inauguratedby
Douglas(1973),andelaboratedinthecollectionsbyBenthallandPolhemus(1975)
andBlacking(1977). The historicalworkof Foucault(1973, 1977)providednew
impetus,evidentintheworksof Scheper-HughesandLock(1987), Martin(1987),
andlike-mindedsociologist B. Turner(1984). Theworkof Bourdieu(1977, 1984)
shifted an earlierfocus on the body as the source of symbolism or means of
expressionto an awarenessof the body as the locus of social practice.This is
powerfullyevidentin Comaroff's(1985) work,whichexhibitsatheoreticalmove-
CulturalAnthropology8(2):135-156. Copyright? 1993,AmericanAnthropologicalAssociation.
135
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3. 136 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
ment from the social body of representationto the socially informedbody of
practice,while still emphasizingthetraditionalfocus on bodysymbolism.
Meanwhile, an opening for phenomenologyin anthropologicaltheory has
come withthepossibilityof articulatinga conceptof experiencearoundtheedges
of the monolithictextualistandrepresentationalistparadigmdominatedby Levi-
Strauss,Derrida,andFoucault.Geertz's(1973) concernwith cultureas text was
complementedby interestin the phenomenologyof AlfredSchutz,and with the
distinctionbetween experience-nearand experience-farconcepts. It has finally
become legitimatefor Wikan(1991) to tacklethe problemof an experience-near
anthropology,for Turnerand Bruner(1986) to espouse an "anthropologyof
experience,"andforJoanandArthurKleinman(1991) todeclarean"ethnography
of experience,"approachesthat are more or less explicitly phenomenological.
Amongsuchapproaches,afew scholars-influenced especiallybyMerleau-Ponty
(1962, 1964) and occasionallyby thinkerssuch as Marcel,Scheler,Straus,and
Schilder-have highlightedaphenomenologyof thebodythatrecognizesembodi-
ment as the existentialconditionin which cultureand self aregrounded(Corin
1990;Csordas1990;Devisch andGailly 1985;Frank1986;Jackson1989;Munn
1986;Ots 1991,in press;Pandolfi1990).They tendto takethe"livedbody"as a
methodologicalstartingpointratherthanconsiderthe bodyas anobjectof study.
Fromthesecondof thesetwoperspectives,thecontrastbetweenembodiment
andtextualitycomes into focus acrossthe varioustopics examinedby ananthro-
pology of thebody.Forexample,theinfluentialsynthesisby Scheper-Hughesand
Lock (1987) clearlylays out the analyticalterrainclaimedby ananthropologyof
the body. These authorsreworkDouglas's (1973) "two bodies"into three-the
individualbody,thesocialbody,andthebodypolitic.Theyunderstandthesebodies
as interrelatedanalyticdomainsmediatedbyemotion.To pose theproblemof the
body in termsof the relationbetweenembodimentand textualityinvites us to
reviewthisfield withaneye tothecorrespondingmethodologicaltensionbetween
phenomenologicalandsemioticapproaches.Thismethodologicaltensiontraverses
all threebodies sketchedby Scheper-HughesandLock.Thatis, eachof thethree
can be understoodeither from the semiotic/textualstandpointof the body as
representationorfromthephenomenological/embodimentstandpointof thebody
as being-in-the-world.
However, the contemporaryanthropologicaland interdisciplinaryliterature
remainsunbalancedinthisrespect.A strongrepresentationalistbiasis evidentmost
notablyin thepredominanceof Foucauldiantextualmetaphors,suchas thatsocial
realityis "inscribedin the body,"andthatouranalysesareformsof "readingthe
body."Even Jackson's (1989) predominantlyphenomenologicalformulationis
castin termsof thebody as a functionof knowledgeandthought,two termswith
strongrepresentationalistconnotation.Yet Jacksonwas perhapsthe firstto point
out the shortcomingsof representationalismin the anthropologyof the body,
arguingthatthe"subjugationof thebodilytothesemanticisempiricallyuntenable"
(1989:122).I wouldendorsethecritiquethatmeaningcannotbereducedto a sign,
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4. SOMATICMODES OF ATTENTION 137
a strategythatreinforcesaCartesianpreeminenceof mindoverabodyunderstood
as "inert,passive,andstatic"(1989:124).Thiscritiqueshouldnotbe construedas
negatingthe studyof signs withrespectto the body, butas makinga place for a
complementaryappreciationof embodimentand being in the world alongside
textualityand representation.That these are complementaryand not mutually
exclusive standpointsisdemonstratedintherapprochementbetweensemioticsand
phenomenologyin severalrecentworkson the body (Csordas1993;Good 1992;
Hanks 1990; Munn 1986; Ots 1991). Nevertheless, because for anthropology
embodimentis notyet developedenoughto be trulycomplementaryto analready
maturetextuality(Hanks1989),thisarticlehasthelimitedaimof takingameasured
steptowardfilling outembodimentas a methodologicalfield.
Reconsideringtheworkof Merleau-Ponty(1962, 1964)andBourdieu(1977,
1984)suggestsbringingintotheforegroundthenotionsof perceptionandpractice.
Briefly, whereas studies of perceptionin anthropologyand psychology are, in
effect, studiesof perceptualcategoriesandclassifications,Merleau-Pontyfocused
on the constitutionof perceptualobjects.ForMerleau-Ponty,perceptionbeganin
thebodyand,throughreflectivethinking,endsinobjects.Onthelevelofperception
thereis notyet a subject-objectdistinction-we aresimplyin theworld.Merleau-
Pontyproposedthatanalysisbeginwith thepre-objectiveactof perceptionrather
thanwith alreadyconstitutedobjects.He recognizedthatperceptionwas always
embeddedin a culturalworld, such thatthe pre-objectivein no way implies a
"pre-cultural."At the same time, he acknowledgedthat his own work did not
elaboratethestepsbetweenperceptionandexplicitculturalandhistoricalanalysis
(Merleau-Ponty1964:25).
Preciselyat thispointwhereMerleau-Pontyleft off, it is valuableto reintro-
duce Bourdieu's (1977, 1984) emphasis on the socially informedbody as the
groundof collective life. Bourdieu'sconcern with the body, workedout in the
empiricaldomainof practice, is paralleland compatiblewith Merleau-Ponty's
analysisin thedomainof perception.To conjoinBourdieu'sunderstandingof the
"habitus"as an unself-consciousorchestrationof practiceswith Merleau-Ponty's
notionof the "pre-objective"suggeststhatembodimentneed not be restrictedto
thepersonalordyadicmicro-analysiscustomarilyassociatedwithphenomenology,
butis relevantas well to socialcollectivities.
Definingthedialecticbetweenperceptualconsciousnessandcollectiveprac-
tice is one wayto elaborateembodimentasamethodologicalfield (Csordas1990).
It is withinthis dialecticthatwe move fromthe understandingof perceptionas a
bodilyprocessto a notionof somaticmodesof attentionthatcanbe identifiedin a
varietyof culturalpractices.Ourelaborationof this constructwill provide the
groundsfor a reflectionon theessentialambiguityof ourown analyticconcepts,
as well as on theconceptualstatusof "indeterminacy"intheparadigmof embodi-
mentandin contemporaryethnography.
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5. 138 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
A Working Definition
AlfredSchutz,thepremiermethodologistofphenomenologicalsocialscience,
understoodattentionto lie in the
full alertnessandthe sharpnessof apperceptionconnectedwith consciously turning
towardanobject,combinedwith furtherconsiderationsandanticipationsof its char-
acteristicsanduses. [1970:316]
Merleau-Ponty goes further, pointing out that attention actually brings the
object into being for perceptual consciousness:
To payattentionis notmerelyfurtherto elucidatepre-existingdata,itis tobringabout
a new articulationof them by takingthem asfigures. They are performedonly as
horizons,theyconstituteinrealitynew regionsin thetotalworld.... Thusattentionis
neitheran associationof images,northereturnto itselfof thoughtalreadyin control
of its objects,but the active constitutionof a new objectwhich makes explicit and
articulatewhatwasuntilthenpresentedas no morethananindeterminatehorizon.
[1962:30]
Whatis theroleof attentionintheconstitutionof subjectivityandintersubjectivity
as bodilyphenomena?If, as Schutzsays, attentionis a consciousturningtoward
anobject,this"turningtoward"wouldseemtoimplymorebodilyandmultisensory
engagementthanwe usuallyallowforinpsychologicaldefinitionsof attention.If,
as Merleau-Pontysays, attentionconstitutesobjectsoutof anindeterminatehori-
zon,theexperienceof ourownbodiesandthoseof othersmustlie somewherealong
thathorizon.I suggestthatwhereit lies is preciselyattheexistentiallyambiguous
pointat whichthe actof constitutionandthe objectthatis constitutedmeet-the
phenomenological"horizon"itself.If thatis so, thenprocessesinwhichwe attend
toandobjectifyourbodiesshouldholdaparticularinterest.Thesearetheprocesses
to whichwe alludewith the termsomatic modesof attention.Somaticmodes of
attentionareculturallyelaboratedways of attendingto and with one's body in
surroundingsthatincludetheembodiedpresenceof others.
Because attentionimpliesboth sensoryengagementandan object,we must
emphasizethatourworkingdefinitionrefersbothtoattending"with"andattending
"to"thebody.To a certainextentit mustbe both.To attendto abodily sensation
is nottoattendtothebodyasanisolatedobject,buttoattendtothebody'ssituation
in the world.The sensationengages somethingin the worldbecausethe body is
"alwaysalreadyin the world."Attentionto a bodily sensationcanthusbecome a
modeof attendingtotheintersubjectivemilieuthatgiverisetothatsensation.Thus,
one is payingattentionwithone's body.Attendingwithone's eyes is reallypartof
this same phenomenon,but we less often conceptualizevisual attentionas a
"turningtoward"thanas a disembodied,beam-like"gaze."We tendto thinkof it
as a cognitive functionratherthanas a bodily engagement.A notionof somatic
mode of attentionbroadensthe field in which we can look for phenomenaof
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6. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 139
perceptionand attention,and suggests that attendingto one's body can tell us
somethingabouttheworldandotherswho surroundus.
Becausewe arenotisolatedsubjectivitiestrappedwithinourbodies,butshare
anintersubjectivemilieuwithothers,we mustalso specify thata somaticmodeof
attentionmeans not only attentionto and with one's own body, but includes
attentionto thebodiesof others.Ourconcernis theculturalelaborationof sensory
engagement,notpreoccupationwith one's own bodyas anisolatedphenomenon.
Thus,we mustinclude,forexample,theculturalelaborationof aneroticsensibility
that accompaniesattentionto attractivenessand the elaborationof interactive,
moral,andaestheticsensibilitiessurroundingattentionto "fatness."These exam-
ples of attentionto thebodilyformof othersalso includeattendingwithone's own
body-there is certainlya visceralelementof eroticattention,andtherecan be a
visceralcomponenttoattendingtootheraspectsof others'bodilyforms.Attending
toothers'bodilymovementsis evenmoreclearcutincasesof dancing,makinglove,
playingteamsports,andin theuncannysense of a presenceoverone's shoulder.
In all of these,thereis a somaticmode of attentionto thepositionandmovement
of others'bodies.
It is a truismthat,althoughourbodies arealwayspresent,we do not always
attendto andwiththem.Let me reiterate,however,thattheconstructI am trying
to elucidateincludesculturallyelaboratedattentionto andwiththe body in the
immediacyof an intersubjectivemilieu. Althoughthereis undoubtedlya cultural
componentin anyactof attentionto one's own or another'sbody,it wouldbe too
impreciseto label any such act as an exampleof a somaticmode of attention.If
you cut yourfingerwhile slicing bread,you'll attendto yourfingerin a way that
is moreorlessculturallydetermined(Isitspirituallydangerous?Isitembarrassing?
MustI see a doctor?).Whenyou notice someone who weighs 275 pounds,your
reactionis alsoculturallydetermined(thatpersonlooksfat,attractive,strong,ugly,
friendly,nurturant).To define somatic modes of attentionin such broadterms
would probablyonly serve to organize a varietyof existing literaturesinto an
overbroadcategory.I suspect,for example, thatwe could identify such loosely
defined somatic modes of attentionassociated with a wide variety of cultural
practicesandphenomena.Mauss(1950)pointedoutthatthereiswhatwearecalling
a somaticmodeof attentionassociatedwiththeacquisitionof anytechniqueof the
body,butthatthismodeof attentionrecedesintothehorizononcethetechniqueis
mastered.The imaginalrehearsalof bodily movements by athletesis a highly
elaboratedsomaticmodeof attention,asistheheightenedsensitivitytomuscletone
and the appetitefor motion associated with health-consciousnessand habitual
exercise. The sense of somatic contingency and transcendenceassociated with
meditationandmysticstateswouldalso be withinourpurview.Therearecertainly
somatic modes of attentionto basic bodily processes, such as pregnancyand
menopause,in differentcultures.On the pathologicalside, the hyper-vigilance
associatedwithhypochondriaandsomatizationdisorder,andthevariousdegrees
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7. 140 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
of vanityor tolerancefor self-mortificationassociatedwithanorexiaandbulimia,
couldbe saidto defineparticularsomaticmodesof attention.
It is evident thatsome of theseexamplessuggest more or less spontaneous
culturalelaboration,whereasotherssuggestmodesthatareconsciouslycultivated
(cf. Shapiro1985).Someemphasizeattendingtothebodyandsomewiththebody;
some emphasizeattendingto one's own body, some attendingto others'bodies,
andsometo others'attentionto ourbodies.My pointis thattheways we attendto
andwithourbodies,andeven thepossibilityof attending,areneitherarbitrarynor
biologicallydetermined,butareculturallyconstituted.Leenhardt's(1979 [1947])
classic study of the Canaquesof New Caledoniadescribednot only a way of
conceptualizingthebodyradicallydistinctfromourown, buttheexclusionof the
body per se as an object of consciousnessuntil the people were introducedby
missionariesto theobjectifiedbodyof Christianculture.Thissuggeststhatneither
attendingto nor attendingwith the body can be takenfor granted,but mustbe
formulatedas culturallyconstitutedsomatic modes of attention.I elucidatethis
constructwithexamplesfromtheethnographicrecordinthefollowingdiscussion.
Somatic Attention and Revelatory Phenomena
Thesomaticmodeof attentionI will delineatein thissectionis thatof healers
who learnabouttheproblemsandemotionalstatesof theirclientsthroughbodily
experiencesthoughtto parallelthoseof the afflicted.I describethe phenomenon
forbothpredominantlyAnglo-American,middle-classCatholicCharismaticheal-
ers andforPuertoRicanspiritistmediums.
TheCatholicCharismaticRenewalis areligiousmovementwithintheRoman
CatholicChurch.CatholicCharismaticshave elaboratedPentecostalfaithhealing
intoasystemthatdistinguishesamongphysical,emotional,demonic,andancestral
sourcesof affliction,andaddresseseach with specific ritualtechniques(Csordas
1983, 1988). A variety of somatic experiences is cultivated in ritualhealing
practice,butI shall focus on two types of experiencereportedby healersduring
theirinteractionwithsupplicants.Oneis called"anointing,"thesecond,"wordof
knowledge."
Althoughthephysicalactof anointingpartof thebody,typicallytheforehead
orhands,withholy oil is acommonformof blessingamongcharismaticsengaged
in healingpractice,a differentuse of the termis of interestin thepresentcontext.
A healerwho reportsan "anointing"by Godrefersto a somaticexperiencethatis
takentoindicateeitherthegeneralactivationofdivinepower,orthespecifichealing
of anindividual.A conventionalanthropologyof ritualhealingwouldsay simply
thatthehealergoes intotrance,assumingtranceto be a unitaryvariableorakind
of blackbox factoredintotheritualequation,andperhapsassumingthatsomatic
manifestationsareepiphenomenaof trance.The analysiswouldgo nofurtherthan
informants'reportsthattheseepiphenomena"function"asconfirmationsof divine
power and healing. Within the paradigmof embodiment,in contrast,we are
interestedinaphenomenologythatwill leadtoconclusionsbothaboutthecultural
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8. SOMATICMODES OF ATTENTION 141
patterningof bodilyexperience,andalso abouttheintersubjectiveconstitutionof
meaningthroughthatexperience.
The anointingis describedby somehealersas a generalfeeling of heaviness,
or as a feeling of lightness almost to the point of levitation. The healer may
experiencetingling,heat,oranoutflowof "power"similarto anelectricalcurrent,
ofteninthehands,butattimesinotherpartsof thebody.Thehandsof somehealers
visiblytremble,andIhavefeltthisvibrationasahealerlaidahandonmyshoulder.
Amonghealersthemselves,however,the"authenticity"of thisvisiblevibrationas
a manifestationof divine power is sometimes questioned,in the sense that the
anointingmaybefeignedorsensationalized.Inalargegrouphealingservice,when
thehealermoves fromindividualto individual,layinghandson each,thestrength
of theanointingmayvarywitheachsupplicant.Onehealerdescribedanemotional
complementof theanointingas a feeling of empathy,sympathy,andcompassion.
If thisfeeling were absentas he cameto a particularpersonin line forhis prayer,
he mightpassover thatperson,assumingthatGoddid notplanto healheratthat
moment.
The second Catholic Charismaticphenomenon in this somatic mode of
attentionisthe"wordof knowledge."Itis understoodasa"spiritualgift"fromGod
by meansof which healerscome to know facts aboutsupplicantsthroughdirect
inspiration,withoutbeingtoldby theafflictedpersonoranyoneelse. The wordof
knowledgeis sometimesexperiencedas anindeterminate"sense"thatsomething
is the case, butvery often occursin specific sensorymodalities.The healermay
see an afflictedbody partin the"mind'seye"orhearthenameof a body partor
diseasewith"theheart."Onehealerdistinguishedclearlythatwhentheproblemis
internal,she typically"sees"theorgan,or cancer,appearingas a blackmass,but
whentheproblemis external,she typically"hears"thewordnamingtheillness or
thebodypart,suchas armsandlegs.
Onehealerreportedthatasnappinginhisearmeanssomeoneintheassembly
isundergoinganearhealing,andthatintensepaininhisheartmeansahearthealing.
Anotherreportedheatin herelbow on one occasion,interpretingthis as a sign of
healingof aninjuryorarthritis.Somehealersreportbeingableto detectheadache
orbackacheinasupplicantthroughtheexperienceof similarpainduringthehealing
process.
Queasinessorconfusedagitationmayindicatetheactivityof evil spirits,and
an unexpectedsneeze or a yawn may indicatethata spiritis passing out of the
supplicantthroughthe healer. One healercommonly reportedan experienceof
"painbackup"frompersonsfilledwithresentmentorpreviouslyengagedinoccult
activities.Thepainwouldenterherarmas she laidhandson theperson.It would
be necessaryto remove her armand "shakeout"the pain, while the supplicant
wouldfeel nothing.Withone handon the supplicant'schest andthe otheron his
orherback,sheclaimsto feel what'sgoingon insidetheperson.Forexample,she
can tell if thepersonis in bondageto Satan,andshe gets anunspecifiedsensation
as thepersonis set free.Theodorof burningsulphurorof somethingrottingalso
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9. 142 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
indicatesthe presence of evil spirits, while the aromaof flowers indicates the
presenceof GodortheVirginMary.
Themostcomprehensivephenomenologicalreportwasgivenby ahealerwho
distinguishedthree componentsof word of knowledge. First was the sense of
certaintythatwhathe would say was actuallyhappening.Secondwas a series of
wordsthatwouldcome tohim in abbreviatedsequence,suchas"heart.. of alady
N yearsold ... seatedin the lastpew...." He wouldcall these wordsout to the
assembly,muchasone wouldreadfromateleprompter,exceptthatheheardrather
thanreadthem.Finally,atthe sametimehe wouldfeel afingerpressingsoftly on
thepartof his bodycorrespondingto theafflictedpartof thepersonbeinghealed.
I will now turnto what I take to be essentiallythe same somatic mode of
attentioninadifferenthealingtradition,PuertoRicanespiritismo(Harwood1977).
Two main culturaldifferences distinguishsomatic attentionin espiritismoand
Charismatichealing.First,whereasforCatholicCharismaticsanointingsaredirect
experiencesof divine power and words of knowledge are divinely empowered
directexperiencesof the supplicant'sdistress,for espiritistas,the corresponding
experiencesaretheworkof spiritsthatenterorpossess thehealer.Theseareeither
good guidingspirits,called guias, or bad,distress-causingspirits,called causas.
The spiritsdominatethe healing process in that they are essential not only to
diagnosisbutalsoto treatment;andhence,thesomaticexperiencesattendedto are
evenmoreprominentthanamongCatholicCharismatics.Specificspiritsmayhave
distinctandrecognizablevoices, odor,or impacton the healer'sbody.However,
thespiritsthemselvesaremoreoften seen andheardamongspiritiststhanamong
Charismatics,and spiritisthealerscan distinguishbetween good guias and bad
causas.
Thesecondimportantculturaldifferenceis withrespecttoconceptionsof the
bodythatgo well beyondritualhealing.The abilityto see spiritsfromin backof
theeyes (ojo oculto)maybe associatedwiththeinterpersonalsalienceof theeyes
andthe glance also found in the evil eye (ojo malo). The experienceof a spirit
enteringthroughthestomachmaybe associatedwiththeculturalemphasisonthat
organnot only as a seatof emotion,butalso as anexpressiveorganwith its own
mouth(boca del estomago).Theexperienceof spiritsasfluidos coursingthrough
the body may be associatedwith a humoralconceptionof how the body works.
Although I would not rule out any of these experiences for Anglo-American
charismatics,itis doubtfulthattheywouldbecultivatedwithintheirsomaticmode
of attention.
Despitethesedifferences,theexperiencesreportedby thetwotypesof healer
arenotablysimilar,althoughespiritistacategoriesdescribingtheseexperiencesare
even more explicit in distinguishing sensory modalities than the Charismatic
anointingsandwordsof knowledge.Based on writingsof, anddiscussionswith,
leadingresearcherson espiritismo(Koss,Harwood,andGarrison),thephenomena
appeartofall intofourcategories:seeingthespirits(videncias),hearingthespirits
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10. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 143
speak(audiciones),sensing immediatelywhatis on theclient's mind(inspiracio-
nes),andfeelingthepainanddistresscausedintheclientbyspirits(plasmaciones).
Mostof thedifferenceslie invisualexperiences,sinceCharismaticstypically
see situationsor images of problems,ratherthanproblemsobjectifiedas spirits.
Perhapsmost similarare the proprioceptiveexperiences,orplasmaciones. Koss
(1988) cites use of the verbplasmar to referto mediums' molding or forming
clients' pain or emotionaldistress within theirown bodies. Harwood(personal
communication)adds thatplasmaciones aretransmittedthroughthe mediumof
plasma,whichinspiritistdoctrineis a spiritualsubstancelinkingpersonsto spirits
andto one another.
According to Harwood, the plasmaciones experienced by healers might
includepain,tingling,vibration,orafeelingof elationif possessedbyaguia spirit.
AlthoughGarrison(personalcommunication)doesnotrecognizethetermplasma-
ciones,sheacknowledgessensaciones thatmightincludeheadache,stomachache,
ortensionpickedupfromtheclient.Koss (1988, 1992)presentsthemostelaborate
inventory,includingfeeling of electricalcharge,acceleratedheartrate,pain and
othersymptomsfeltatthecorrespondingbodysite,cool airblowingacrosstheskin
startingfromthehead,tingling,energyenteringthestomachandleavingthehead
or moving like a snake in the body,fluidos like sexual energy,buzzing sounds,
body lightness, rapid thinking, feelings of contentmentand relaxation in the
presenceof a good spirit,feelings of nervousness,fatigue,or fearin thepresence
of abadspirit.Again,theprincipaldifferencesappeartobeassociatedwiththerole
of spiritsand with particularauditory,olfactory,or proprioceptiveexperiences
associatedwithparticularguias.Theelaborationof interactionwithnegativespirits
augmentsthe espiritista repertoireof negative experiencesand compulsions to
speakor hearinvoluntarily.Among CatholicCharismatics,evil spiritsareoften
ritually"bound"to preventtheirmanifestationin theformof shrieking,writhing,
vomiting, or challenging the proceedings. The acquiescence of spirits to this
practiceof bindingis doubtlessdue in partto aclass habitus(Bourdieu1977) that
encouragesbehavioralmoderationamong middle-classCharismatics.Protestant
Pentecostals,typically of more working-classprovenance,tend to requiresome
somaticmanifestationas a sign of a demon's departurefromits host. In addition,
evil spiritsintheCharismaticsystemaremanifestonly intheafflicted,notthrough
thehealer.
Related Phenomena in Nonreligious Healing
The somaticmode of attentionin both espiritistaandCatholicCharismatic
systems is indigenouslyarticulatedin termsof religious revelation.I will now
brieflyexaminerelatedphenomenain two healingsystemsthatlack suchovertly
religious character.Daniel (1984) describes the diagnostictaking of pulses by
practitionersof Siddha medicine in South Asia as a three-stageprocess that
culminateswith physicians makingtheirown pulse "confluentand concordant"
withthatof theirpatients.This final stagebearsthenamecamanilai, the stateof
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11. 144 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
equipoise.Only afterexperiencingthe sharedpulsationsof cama nilai does the
Siddha physician truly know the patient's humoraldisorder.In this instance,
divinely inspiredspontaneityis replacedby cultivateddiagnostic skill, but the
somaticmode of attentionremainscharacterizedby its referenceto anotherper-
son's suffering.
Daniel'sinterpretationof Siddhapulsediagnosisalsoraisesamethodological
issue, andrequiresus to returnfor a momentto thedomainof semioticanalysis.
Adoptingthecategoriesof Peirceiansemiotics,Danieldescribestheinitialrelation
betweenthephysician'spassivefingertipsandthepatient'spulseas indexical-in
theircontact,theyindexeachotherasnormalorabnormal.Also, theabnormalpulse
of thepatientindexeshumoralimbalance,whereasthenormalpulse of thephysi-
cian indexeshealthyhumoralbalance.As thephysician'sown pulseemergesand
becomesconfluentwith thatof the patient,the "indexicaldistance"betweenthe
signs decreases,untiltherelationshipbetweenthetwo pulses is transformedinto
aniconicone,andthetwosignsbecomeone.AccordingtoDaniel,"Atthismoment
of perfecticonicity,thephysicianmay be saidto haveexperiencedin some sense
thesufferingas well as thehumoralimbalanceof thepatient"(1984:120).
The semioticanalysisis of value in allowingDaniel to compareSiddhaand
similar traditionalhealing systems with Westernbiomedicine in terms of the
relativepowerof indexicalityor iconicity institutionalizedwithinthem (cf. Kir-
mayer 1992 and Ots 1991). Fromthe perspectiveof embodiment,however, the
notionof indexicaldistanceis too abstract,andthe semioticanalysisallows only
the conclusionthatsufferingis shared"in some sense."Daniel is forced into a
neologismto expresshis understandingthat,insofaras the processof takingthe
pulseneutralizesthedivide betweenpatientandphysician,objectivityis replaced
by "consubjectivity."The problematicof embodimentwouldpick uppreciselyat
this point, with a phenomenologicaldescriptionof "consubjectivity"as charac-
teristicof aparticularsomaticmodeof attention.
A finalexampleof this somaticmodeof attentioncomes fromcontemporary
psychotherapy.Typically reportedclinical experiencesinclude a stirringin the
penisin themale therapist'sencounterwitha "hystericalfemale,"or apropensity
to yawn whenfaced with anobsessive patient.Suchphenomenaoccurspontane-
ously inpsychotherapy,as in thereligioussettingsdescribedabove,butthemode
of attentionto them is not consistently elaboratedas indicative of something
importantaboutthe patientor the conditionbeing treated.Only certainschools,
suchasexperiential,transpersonal,andanalyticalpsychology,appearsympathetic
to more explicit recognitionof these phenomena.Samuels, for example, gives
severalexamplesof countertransferenceas a "physical,actual,material,sensual
expressionin the analyst of something in the patient'spsyche" (1985:52). He
includesbodilyandbehavioralresponses,suchas wearingthesameclothesas the
patient,walkingintoalamp-post,sensationinthesolarplexus,painin aparticular
partof the body; affectiveresponses, such as anger,impatience,powerfulness,
powerlessness;andfantasyresponses, suchas suddendelusionalthoughts,mental
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12. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 145
imagery,or sensorydistortions.Most important,he arguesthatsuchexperiences
arecommunicationfrompatients,andagainsttraditionaltheoriesof countertrans-
ferencethatimpugnthemas pathologicalreactionsof thetherapist.
Thisnewexampleraisesanothermethodologicalissue,thatof thesubject-ob-
jectrelationshipasitpertainstotheinterpretiveframeworkswe bringtotheobjects
of ouranalyses.HereI am not referringto our"objective"analysisof subjective
phenomena,suchassomaticmodesof attention,buttothewayourowninterpretive
subjectivityconstitutesor objectifies the phenomenaof interest.For the present
discussion,workon countertransferencefromanalyticalpsychology may appear
toofferavalidinterpretiveframework.How canthisbe,however,whenanalytical
psychology is itself the source of precisely the kind of datawe wish to analyze
under the heading of somatic mode of attention?Are we to place words of
knowledge,plasmaciones, cama nilai, and embodiedcountertransferenceon an
equalfooting as phenomenato be interpreted,or can we justify using the last of
theseas a frameworkfor interpretingtheformerthree?
The natureof this problemis illustratedby the following vignettefrommy
fieldwork.The settingwas a CatholicCharismatichealingsession conductedby a
healerwho was also a trainedpsychotherapist,and who made particularuse of
"bodywork"techniques.Inthissession, sheaskedtheclient,a 37-year-oldman,to
performtheposturesof a techniqueknownas "grounding,"andto reportwhathe
felt in his body. In the context of ongoing therapeuticattentionto the theme of
overdisciplineandexcessive needforcontrol,itwasnotsurprisingthatheobserved
thathisfistswereclenchedandhiskneeslocked.However,atthementionof locked
knees,my own crossedleg jumpedas if it hadbeentappedby adoctor'shammer
in atestof reflexes.
Insofar as my own somatic mode of attentionwas circumscribedby the
motivesof ethnography,I didnothesitatetousemyownexperienceasanoccasion
fordatacollection.Ilateraskedthehealerhow shewouldaccountformykneejerk,
andif it werepossible fora non-believerto experiencethedivinely inspiredword
of knowledge.She respondedthatthe experiencecould not be definitivelyinter-
preted,butthatit couldbe one of threethings:a somaticresponsecausedby God,
a consequenceof my sharingsome of thesamepersonalityissues as theclient, or
a naturalresultof deepattachmentto another'sexperience.This"nativeexegesis"
subsumesnotions of divine agency, countertransference,and a psychosomatic
understandingof empathy.In its postmoder juxtapositionof interpretivepossi-
bilities, it poses a challengeof reflexivityfor the participantobserver,and in so
doing,it arguesthatthedomainof interpretivepossibilitiesis continuousbetween
thoseof observerandthoseof observed.
It may be arguedthat,althougha categorysuch as countertransferencemay
not be morecorrect,it may be morevaluablefor a comparativeanalysisof such
phenomena,andthatcomparisonitself is thesourceof validity.Nevertheless,this
exampleremindsus thatobjectiveanalyticcategoriesbecomeobjectivethrougha
reflectivemovement within the process of analysis.I would arguethatit is the
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13. 146 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
perspectiveof embodimentitselfthatfacilitatesthisinsight.Ifthesameinsightcan
alsobe arrivedatthroughotherapproaches,I wouldatleastarguethatembodiment
offersawayto understanditinmoredepth.Inanyevent,itis necessarytoelaborate
thefindingthattheattempttodefineasomaticmodeof attentiondecentersanalysis
such thatno categoryis privileged,andall categoriesarein flux betweensubjec-
tivity andobjectivity.
The Flux of Analytical Categories
All theexampleswehavecalledupontoillustratethenotionof somaticmodes
of attentionaredrawnfromthedomainof healing.If suchmodesof attentionare
generalphenomenaof humanconsciousness, we would expect thatthey can be
identifiedin otherdomainsas well. Forexample,Becker(in press)has observed
that in Fijian culturethe body is not a function of the individual"self"as in
Euro-America,butof the community.An ongoing surveillance,monitoring,and
commentaryon body shape includes the changes that begin when a woman
becomespregnant.Fijiansregardit as essentialthata womanmakeherpregnancy
knownpublicly,lest thepowerof its secrecyresultin boatscapsizing,contamina-
tionof food, andthespoilingof groupendeavors.Unrevealedpregnanciescan be
manifestinthebodilyexperiencesof others:illness orweightloss causedby food
cooked by the pregnantwoman; loss of hair caused by cutting it; a lactating
mother'smilkdryingupbecauseof aglance.Thisphenomenonwasfullycultivated
as asomaticmodeof attentionbyonewomanwhoexperiencedanitchinherbreast
whenevera memberof herfamily becamepregnant.Such evidencetypicallyled
theheadof thehouseholdto summonthefamily's young womenandurgeone of
themto revealherpregnancybeforesomethinguntowardoccurred.
An approachto culturalphenomenathroughembodimentshouldalso make
possible the reinterpretationof data already analyzed from other standpoints
(Csordas1990).Weshouldthennotonlybeabletodiscoverundocumentedsomatic
modes of attentionas in the Fijiancase, butalso be able to recognizethemright
underourethnographicnoses in well-documentedsituations.I submit(basedon
observationsmadewhilemy wife andI wereexpectingthebirthof ourtwins)that
such a reinterpretationof couvadeis in order.The coreof thephenomenonis that
anexpectantfatherexperiencesbodily sensationsattunedto thoseof his pregnant
mate. Couvadehas been understoodin one of two ways in the literature.On the
one hand,it is thoughtof as a ratherodd customin which theman"simulates"or
"imitates"labor(Broude1988;Dawson 1929;Munroeet al. 1973).Ontheother,
it is regardedas a medicalphenomenon,or "syndrome"(EnochandTrethowan
1991;Klein 1991;Schodt1989).Thus,couvadeis eitherexoticizedas aprimitive
charade,orpathologizedas a psychosomaticoveridentification.Reconceivedas a
somatic mode of attention,it appearsinstead as a phenomenonof embodied
intersubjectivitythatis performativelyelaboratedin certainsocieties, while it is
eitherneglectedorfearedas abnormalin others.
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14. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 147
Pendingadditionalempiricaldescriptionsof somaticmodesof attention,we
can provisionally turn to the implications of the constructfor a paradigmof
embodiment.In outliningthe phenomenologyof somaticmodes of attentionin
espiritistaandCatholicCharismatichealing systems, I rigorouslyrefrainedfrom
invokinganycategoryotherthan"experience"andcastthedescriptionstrictlyin
termsof sensorymodalities.Inthesucceedingsection,I showedthatthesemodes
of attentioncannotbesubsumedentirelyunderthecategoryofreligiousexperience,
andthat,in impingingon moreconventionalcategoriessuchas countertransfer-
ence, theypose a challengeof reflexivity.The pointI wantto makenow is about
thepovertyof ouranthropologicalcategoriesforgoinganyfurtherinunderstanding
whatitistoattendtoone's bodyinamodesuchasthatdescribedabove.Weoperate
withcategoriesof cognitionandaffect,neitherone of whichalonecandojustice
tothesephenomena,andbetweenwhichthereexists anearlyunbridgeableanalytic
gulf. The categoriesof tranceandalteredstatesof consciousnessremainvirtual
blackboxes,andonecolleague'ssuggestionof"proprioceptivedelusion"is nohelp
atall.To suggestthattheyareformsof "embodiedknowledge"is provocative,but
doesn't necessarilycapturethe intersubjectivenatureof thephenomenawe have
described.In his earlyprogrammaticwork,Blackingreferredto the existence of
"sharedsomaticstates"as thebasisforakindof "bodilyempathy,"butofferedno
specificexamplesof anythingsimilarto whatwe havedescribedabove(1977:10).
I wouldliketogo furtherhereandbrieflydiscussthesephenomenaunderfour
additionalcategories,if only to emphasizethatwe remainill-equippedto interpret
them. These categories are intuition,imagination,perception,and sensation. I
restrictthediscussionin this section to the Charismaticandespiritistarevelatory
phenomenadescribedabove.
First,consideranointings,wordsof knowledge,videncias,andplasmaciones
as kindsof intuition.ThephysicianRitaCharondescribesherpracticeof writing
fiction to clarify her feelings when confused or distressedabouta patient.She
begins with known facts, tying togetherevents, complaints,and actions of the
patient,whilemakingherselfanactorin thestoryfromthepatient'spointof view.
She is "notsurprisedwhendetailsthatI imagineaboutapatientturnoutto be true.
Thereis, afterall,adeepspringof knowledgeaboutourpatientsthatisonlyslightly
tappedin ourconscious work"(1985:5). I thinkit is not difficultto conceive of
intuitionasembodiedknowledge.Thenwhynotconceiveof revelatoryphenomena
assensoryintuition?Healersaswell asphysiciansnotonlysharewiththeirpatients
ahighlyorganizedsetof bodilydispositionssummarizedbyBourdieu(1977)under
the termhabitus,butalso acquirea cumulativeempiricalknowledgeof therange
of humandistressastheyexpandtheirexperience.
Again,letustrytounderstandrevelatoryphenomenaasformsof imagination.
In currentscholarship,imaginationis discussed almost exclusively in terms of
visual imagery, which is in turn readily thought of as "mental"imagery. So
ingrainedis theconceptof mentalimagerythatthe termphysicalimagerystrikes
one almostas an oxymoron.Yet if we allow the othersensorymodalitiesequal
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15. 148 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
analyticstatuswith the visual, an expandedconcept of sensory imagerywould
allow us to avoidthe arbitrarydichotomythattemptsus to analyzeCharismatic
wordsof knowledgeintodistinctcategoriesof mentalimagesandphysicalsensa-
tions,andanalyticallytoseparatespiritistvidenciasfromplasmaciones.Wewould
then be taking a methodologicalstep away from an empiricistconception of
imaginationasabstractrepresentationtoaphenomenologicalconceptionof imagi-
nationas afeatureof thebodilysynthesis,whichMerleau-Ponty(1962) described
ascharacteristicof ahumanconsciousnessthatprojectsitselfintoaculturalworld.
Oncemore,whatif we takeseriouslytheindigenousclaimthatthesephenom-
enaareformsofperception,ifnotof thedivinethenof somethingelsewecanaccept
as concrete?This is a challenging proposition,and merits invoking Schwartz-
Salant's(1987) attemptto integratealchemicalthinkingintocurrentpsychothera-
peutictheory.He suggestsconceivingof an interactivefield betweentwo people
thatis"capableof manifestingenergywithitsowndynamicsandphenomenology."
This "in-between"field is palpableonly on certainlevels of perceptionin which
theimaginationitselfcan"becomeanorganthatperceivesunconsciousprocesses"
(1987:139).Samuels(1985), whoseworkhasbeendiscussedabove,offersarelated
formulation,which,like thatof Schwartz-Salant,is derivedfromanalyticalpsy-
chology. He elaboratesHenry Corbin's concept of the mundusimaginalis, or
imaginalworld,as a distinctorderof realitythatexists bothbetweentwopersons
intherapeuticanalysis,andbetweensenseimpressionsandcognitionorspirituality.
Althoughtheconceptionof imaginationasasenseorganhasitsattraction,itcreates
methodologicalproblemscommon to any model thattries to define "levels"of
perceptionor consciousness.In addition,it does not addresstheproblemthatwe
have no independentway of "perceiving"unconsciousprocesses so as to verify
whatis beingperceivedinrevelatoryphenomena.
Sensationis yet anothercategoryunderwhichwe mightchoose to subsume
these phenomena.Sensationis inherentlyempiricist,however,andforces a con-
ceptionof culturalmeaningasreferentialmeaningimposedonasensorysubstrate.
Therelevantquestionsbecomewhethertheheatexperiencedbythehealeris really
the sameas we feel whenwe blush,whetherthe tinglingis reallythesameas the
tinglingof anticipationwe feel in otherhighlymeaningfulsituations,whetherthe
"painbackup"in thehealer'sarmas she lays herhandson a person'sshoulderis
reallythe samefeeling we have when our arm"fallsasleep"afterremainingtoo
longinanuncomfortableposition.All of thesewouldbeinterestingdeterminations,
butwouldnotsuittheaimsof a culturalphenomenology.By reducingmeaningto
sensationorbiologicalfunction,thisapproachrequiresareconstitutionof meaning
thatbypassesthebodilysynthesisof sensoryexperienceandtheculturalsynthesis
of sacredexperience.
The indeterminacyin ouranalyticcategoriesis revealedwhen we encounter
phenomenaas essentiallyambiguousas somaticmodesof attention.This indeter-
minacy, it turnsout, is an essential element of our existence. Merleau-Ponty
objectedtoconceivingperceptionas anintellectualactof graspingexternalstimuli
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16. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 149
producedby pregivenobjects.Instead,he arguedthattheperceptualsynthesisof
theobjectis accomplishedby thesubject,whichis thebodyasafieldof perception
andpractice(1964:15-16). Ineffect,Merleau-Ponty'sexistentialanalysiscollapses
the subject-objectduality in orderto pose more precisely the questionof how
attentionandotherreflectiveprocessesof the intellectconstituteculturalobjects.
In takingup this enterprise,we find thatthe ambiguitybetweensubjectand
objectextendsto ourdistinctionsbetweenmind andbody, andbetweenself and
other.Withregardto thefirstof thesedistinctions,if we beginwiththelivedworld
of perceptualphenomena,ourbodiesarenotobjectstous.Quitethecontrary,they
arean integralpartof the perceivingsubject.On the level of perceptionit is not
legitimatetodistinguishmindandbody,sincethebodyis itselfthe"generalpower
of inhabitingall the environmentswhich the world contains"(Merleau-Ponty
1962:311).Beginningfromperceptualreality,however,it thenbecomesrelevant
to ask how our bodies may become objectifiedthroughprocesses of reflection.
Likewise,inthelived world,we do notperceiveothersasobjects.Anotherperson
isperceivedasanother"myself,"tearingitselfawayfrombeingsimplyaphenome-
non in my perceptualfield, appropriatingmy phenomenaandconferringon them
thedimensionof intersubjectivebeing,andso offering"thetaskof atruecommu-
nication"(Merleau-Ponty1964:18). As is true of the body, other persons can
becomeobjectsfor us only secondarily,as theresultof reflection.
Itis inthisembodiedrealitythatwe havehadtobegintheanalysisof wordof
knowledge,plasmacione,camanilai,andembodiedcountertransference.Originat-
ing inprimordialexperiencecharacterizedby theabsenceof dualitybetweenmind
and body, self and other, the phenomenaare objectifiedin reflective practice,
throughaparticularsomaticmodeof attention.Farfromprovidingacausalaccount
of thesephenomena,ouranalysishasshownthedifficultyof evenfindingadequate
descriptivecategories.Whatis revealedby a returnto the phenomena-and the
consequentnecessity to collapse dualitiesof mind andbody, self and other-is
insteada fundamentalprincipleof indeterminacythatposes a profoundmethodo-
logical challengeto the scientificideal.The "turningtoward"thatconstitutesthe
objectof attentioncannotbe determinatein termsof eithersubjector object,but
only real in termsof intersubjectivity.
What's the Use of Indeterminacy?
Ironically,theapproachthroughembodimentthathasallowedus toelaborate
somaticmodesof attentionasa constructwithsomedemonstrableempiricalvalue
has also disclosed the ratherslippery notion of the essential indeterminacyof
existence.Thisis doubtlessrelatedtothediscoveryof existentialandmethodologi-
cal indeterminacyin recentethnographicwriting(cf. Favret-Saada1980;Jackson
1989; Pandolfi 1991; Stoller 1989). Inevitably,perhaps,when we try to give
theoreticalformulationto thisindeterminacy,we easilyslipbackintothelanguage
of eithertextualityor embodiment,representationor being in the world. In the
present context, I can only point to this problem by briefly summarizingthe
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17. 150 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
principleof indeterminacyasformulatedby Merleau-Pontyforperception,andby
Bourdieuforpractice.We thusreturnto thenotionof indeterminacy,notto make
it determinateas a conceptthatcan be appliedin our analyses,butto give some
theoreticalgroundsfor acceptingit as an inevitablebackgroundconditionof our
analyses.
Merleau-Ponty,havingdemonstratedthatallhumanfunctions(e.g.,sexuality,
motility,intelligence)areunifiedina singlebodilysynthesis,arguesthatexistence
is indeterminate
insofarasitistheveryprocessbywhichthehithertomeaninglesstakesonmeaning,
wherebywhathadmerelya[forexample]sexualsignificanceassumesamoregeneral
one,chanceistransformedintoreason;insofarasitistheactoftakingupadefacto
situation.Weshallgivethename"transcendence"tothisactinwhichexistencetakes
up, to its own account,andtransformssucha situation.Preciselybecauseit is
transcendence,existenceneverutterlyoutrunsanything,forin thatcasethetension
whichis essentialto it [betweenobjectiveworldandexistentialmeaning]would
disappear.Itneverabandonsitself.Whatitisneverremainsexteral andaccidentalto
it,sincethisisalwaystakenupandintegratedintoit.[1962:169]
The transcendencedescribed by Merleau-Pontyis thus not mystical, but is
groundedin the world,suchthatexistentialindeterminacybecomesthe basisfor
aninalienablehumanfreedom.
For Bourdieu, the synthesis of practicaldomains in a unitaryhabitus is
likewise basedon indeterminacy,butthis variantof indeterminacydoes not lead
to transcendence.Insteadof anexistentialindeterminacy,Bourdieu'sis a logical
indeterminacy,which
neverexplicitlyorsystematicallylimitsitselftoanyoneaspectof thetermsitlinks,
buttakeseachone,eachtime,asawhole,exploitingtothefullthefactthattwo"data"
areneverentirelyalikeinall respectsbutarealwaysalikein some respect .... [Ritual
practiceworksby]bringingthesamesymbolintodifferentrelationsthroughdifferent
aspectsorbringingdifferentaspectsof thesamereferentintothesamerelationof
opposition.[Bourdieu1977:111-112]
Logical indeterminacyis the basis for transpositionof different schemes into
differentpracticaldomains,exemplifiedinhis ethnographyby theKabyleapplica-
tion of the male-female opposition to outside-inside the house and, again, to
differentareaswithinthehouse.Itis also thebasisforthepolysemyandambiguity
epitomizedbytheKabylecookingladlethatis sometimesmale,sometimesfemale.
In sum, Merleau-Pontysees in the indeterminacyof perceptiona transcen-
dence thatdoes not outrunits embodiedsituation,but thatalways "assertsmore
thingsthanit grasps:when I say thatI see the ash-trayover there,I supposeas
completedanunfoldingof experiencewhichcouldgo onadinfinitum,andIcommit
a whole perceptualfuture"(1962:361). Bourdieu sees in the indeterminacyof
practicethat,since no personhas conscious masteryof the modusoperandithat
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18. SOMATICMODESOFATTENTION151
integratessymbolicschemesandpractices,theunfoldingof his worksandactions
"alwaysoutrunshis consciousintentions"(1977:79).Itwouldbe convenientif we
could pose these views of indeterminacyas perfectlycomplementary.Thus, we
couldsay thathumanactionis transcendentin takingup situationsandendowing
themwithmeaningthatis open-endedandinexhaustiblewithouteveroutrunning
those situations;and situations cannot be outrunbecause they are structured
accordingtoanenduringsystemof dispositionsthatregulatepracticesbyadjusting
them to other practices, thereby creating the condition of possibility for the
open-endednessof action. However, there are serious conceptual differences
betweenthetwo theoriststhatputthisinterpretationin doubt.
On Bourdieu's side, the locus of these differencesis his rejectionof the
conceptsof livedexperience,intentionality,andthedistinctionbetweenconscious-
nessinitselfandforitself.ThisrejectionrequiresBourdieutogroundtheconditions
for intelligibilityin social life entirelyon homogenizationof the habituswithin
groups or classes (1977:80), and to explain individual variationin terms of
homologyamong individuals,such thatindividuals'systems of dispositions are
structuralvariantsof thegrouphabitus,ordeviationsinrelationtoastyle(1977:86).
Merleau-Ponty,on theotherhand,insistson the apriorinecessityof intersubjec-
tivity,pointingout thatany actor'sadoptionof a positionpresupposeshis or her
beingsituatedin anintersubjectiveworld,andthatscience itself is upheldby this
basicdoxa.This intersubjectivityis not aninterpenetrationof intentionalities,but
aninterweavingof familiarpatternsof behavior:
Iperceivetheotherasapieceofbehavior,forexample,Iperceivethegriefortheanger
of theotherinhisconduct,inhisfaceorhishands,withoutrecoursetoany"inner"
experienceof sufferingor anger,andbecausegriefandangerare variationsof
belongingto the world,undividedbetweenthe body andconsciousness,andequally
applicabletotheother'sconduct,visibleinhisphenomenalbody,asinmyownconduct
as it is presentedto me. [Merleau-Ponty1962:356]
Thisanalysisis echoedby Jackson:
To recognizethe embodiednessof our being-in-the-worldis to discover a common
groundwhereself andotherareone,forbyusingone's bodyin thesamewayas others
in the sameenvironmentone findsoneself informedby anunderstandingwhich may
thenbeinterpretedaccordingtoone's owncustomorbent,yetwhichremainsgrounded
in a field of practicalactivity andtherebyremainsconsonantwith the experienceof
thoseamongwhom one has lived. [1989:135]
Becausebody andconsciousness areone, intersubjectivityis also a co-presence;
another'semotionis immediatebecauseit is graspedpre-objectively,andfamiliar
insofaras we sharethesamehabitus.
Intheend,Bourdieu'sprincipleof logical indeterminacybecomesthecondi-
tionforregulatedimprovisation,whereasMerleau-Ponty'sprincipleof existential
indeterminacybecomestheconditionfortranscendencein sociallife. Eachprinci-
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19. 152 CULTURALANTHROPOLOGY
pie has a weakness,basedon the implicitfavoringof textualityor embodiment,
representationorbeingintheworld.We will leave ourdiscussionwithasummary
of theseissues.
To Merleau-Ponty,authenticactsof expression"forthemselves"constitutea
world and are transcendent,but once a linguistic and culturalworld is already
constituted,reiterationof those acts is no longertranscendent,no longerprojects
itself intotheworld,andpartakesmoreof being"initself."ForMerleau-Pontythis
problem subsists primarilyin the domain of speech, where the speakingword
becomes sedimentedas thespokenword.Here,Bourdieu'sanalysisof universes
of practice subsisting alongside universes of discourse provides a corrective,
forcingus to generalizethissedimentationfromlanguageto therestof thehabitus,
and to acknowledgeMerleau-Ponty'sproblemas endemic to his conceptionof
existence. Theproblem,requiredby the (uncollapsedor uncollapsible)dualityof
the"initself"(being)and"foritself' (existence),is havingtodistinguishgenuine,
transcendentexpressionfrom reiteration.This leads directlyto the dilemmaof
havingtospecifyconditionsunderwhichpersonscanbecomeobjectstoothersand
to themselves,andunderwhichsocioeconomicclassescanbecomeobjectstoother
classes andto themselves,as opposedto beingsubjectsof theirown action.While
existenceis nottext,it is essentiallytextualizable.
Bourdieu,in rejectingthedistinctionbetween"initself"and"foritself,"can
avoid this problemby conceptualizingthe result of indeterminacyas regulated
improvisation,open-endedyetcircumscribedby thedispositionsof thehabitus.In
thishe is facedwithadifferentproblem,however:accountingforchange,creativ-
ity,innovation,transgression,andviolation.He claimsthat,"asanacquiredsystem
of generativeschemesobjectivelyadjustedto theparticularconditionsin whichit
is constituted,thehabitusengendersallthethoughts,alltheperceptions,andallthe
actionsconsistentwiththoseconditions,andnoothers"(1977:95).Thisis difficult
to conceive,he claims,if one remainslocked in thedilemmasof determinismand
freedom,conditioningand creativity.These are perhapsdualitiesthathe is too
quick to collapse,however,unless the "conditionedandconditionalfreedom"of
thehabitus's"endlesscapacityto engenderproducts"includesthecapacityfor its
own transformation(1977:95).Otherwise,theprincipleof indeterminacybecomes
a disguiseforlackof analyticspecificity,andhabitusloses its valueas ananalytic
construct.Althoughthehabitusbearssomeof theschematismofafixed text,itcan
be transcendedin embodiedexistence.
Conclusion
Approachingculturalphenomenafrom the standpointof embodimenthas
allowed us to definea constructof somaticmodes of attention,whichhas in tur
led us to a principleof indeterminacythatunderminesdualitiesbetweensubject
and object, mind and body, self and other. In our concluding comparisonof
Merleau-PontyandBourdieu,we haveseenthattherelationsbetweenembodiment
itself and textuality, and between representationand being in the world, are
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20. SOMATICMODESOF ATTENTION 153
indeterminateaswell. Theseindeterminaterelationsconstitutetheshiftingexisten-
tial groundon which contemporaryethnographysuggests we must increasingly
situateculturalphenomena.Ourattemptsto objectifyin analysisareanalogousto
thedefinitivegestureof the Senoufodivinerin strikinghis thigh(Zempleni1988)
to confirmhis pronouncement.The actis notso muchaninvocationof thesacred
as it is anembodiedstatement,in defianceof thewisdomthatone neverstepsinto
thesamerivertwice, thatone has snatcheda definitiveoutcomefromtheindeter-
minateflux of life, andthat,once andforall, "Thisis theway it is."
Itis thissameprincipleof indeterminacy,inherentinsociallife, thathascome
totheforeintheconsciousmovementof postmodernisminartandtheunconscious
dissociationof signsandreferents,symbolsanddomains,incontemporaryculture.
Itis thefundamentalindeterminacyof existencethatis sensedasmissingby those
anthropologistsattractedto thepostmodernistmethodologicalshiftfrompatternto
pastiche,fromkey symbolsto blurredgenres.Theirprojecthasbeen begunin the
semioticparadigmof textuality,but a substantialcontributioncan also be made
throughelaborationof a phenomenologicalparadigmof embodiment.Yet, if
indeterminacyis fundamentalto existence,only carefulelaborationof its defining
features,such as Merleau-Ponty'stranscendenceandBourdieu'simprovisation,
will allowittobecomeanawarenessof ourexistentialconditionwithoutbecoming
anexcuse for analyticalimprecision.
Notes
Acknowledgments.Portionsof thisarticlewerepresentedin 1988tothesymposium,
"BeyondSemanticsandRationality,"organizedbyGillesBibeauandEllenCorinatthe12th
InternationalCongressof AnthropologicalandEthnologicalSciencesinZagreb.A version
waspresentedtothesession"EmbodiedKnowledge,"organizedbyDeborahGordonand
JeanLaveatthe1988AnnualMeetingof theAmericanAnthropologicalAssociationin
Phoenix.Sincethattime,IamgratefultoJanisJenkinsforongoingscholarlydiscussionthat
challengedmetorefinemyargument.Thanksaswelltothetwoanonymousreviewersfor
CulturalAnthropology.FieldworkamongCatholicCharismaticswassupportedbyNational
InstituteofMentalHealthgrantR01MH40473.
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