What is embodiment?
Embodiment in current anthropological science is how culture and environment enters and changes the body; and as we experience the world through our bodies, changes in our body changes our perception of the world. It is how the environment of the outside world is internalised within our body, and how a changed body then effects and is affected by the space the body resides in.
Culture and environment enter the bodyThe first aspect is that we acknowledge that stuff enters our body. The stuff being all these collating and conflating influences over periods of time both individually and inter-generationally. These influences are of things other than the body itself, all the culture, ideology, habits and customs, all of which are omnipresent. The body sits within this space and is inadvertently exposed to all these factors of influence.
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The influence internalised, manifestation in the bodyWith the inherent presence and continual influence of the surrounding environment the body is exposed to, it is inevitable that changes would occur within the body. This influence, this culture, this space, have entered the body and now the body itself internalises the pressures of the influence. The body in a sense has learned from the information it has taken in and now has internalised it, changing the way in which it functions and the way it is represented.
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We perceive through our bodies and are perceived by our bodiesWe perceive through our bodies, thus a changed body changes how we perceive the world. The body is the interface, so changing the way in which we interact with the world must cause changes with our lived experience. This change is gradual, often culminating over periods of time. This changed body then influences how others perceive this body, and how the environment applies different influences and pressures in response to the changed body.
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~~ Embodiment today ~~
The relevance of embodiment today is that embodiment was never invented but discovered. Drawing from concepts such as phenomenology and leading itself into theories such as Bourdieu's theory of habitus, embodiment is continually present and important in modern day lives. Being able to identify, apply and address the factors that continually shape our bodies can help address issues and concerns regarding our health and well-being.
A major way it is incorporated in contemporary society is the acknowledgment of embodying the aspects of inequality, stress and inter-generational trauma, just to name a few.
A major way it is incorporated in contemporary society is the acknowledgment of embodying the aspects of inequality, stress and inter-generational trauma, just to name a few.
Embodiment in society
- examples in research and study -
Race and Birth - Embodying inequality
Clarence Gravlee (2009) explores the embodiment of inequality through the premature birth rates seen in American white woman versus African American woman in the USA. It was found that it was not a biological trait of African American woman having higher premature birth rates, but it is after one generation of African American woman living in America when premature birth rates increase. The elevated and constant stress of being on high alert has been embodied biologically by having higher cortisol levels. This increase in cortisol is embedded biologically and is passed down generationally. Cortisol is what induces labour, leading to higher likelihood of preterm births. C. Gravlee's research had given light to how racial discrimination became internalised human biology.
Gravlee, Clarence C. "How race becomes biology: embodiment of social inequality." American journal of physical anthropology 139, no. 1 (2009): 47-57. |
Customs and Culture - Embodying societal practice
Juile Spray (2020) explores the socialised body in context. She explores New Zealand children in lower socio-economic zone attending schools within the area. Certain practices such as a packed lunch can be seen as a way in which their societal position within their community is being portrayed. The book also explores the ways in which the children associated negative connotations to the lunches that were provided by the school for free. Here the socialised body in context is explored as the children have ascribed parts of their societal worth to food, embodying the social practice into their habits, such as not accepting the free packed lunch, or throwing it away, or eating it our of sight rom the other children.
Spray, J. (2020). The children in child health: Negotiating young lives and health in New Zealand. Rutgers University Press. |