Making bodies meaningful. The social presentation of the body

Abstract

As a social presentation of the body, we understand the act of displaying the body in a conscious and voluntary way in view of a situation of social interaction through all that we do in it and all that we do with it. Among other aspects, this has to do with clothing, ornamentation and body modification. From the anthropological view, there are different theoretical approaches about the body, which are essential in order to understand its social presentation. The following three of them are fundamental: 1. The body as a source of representation, that is, the body as a text that can be read and interpreted. What is of interest here is the representational or symbolic nature of the body as a vehicle of social meanings. 2. The body as a product of representation. This concerns the Foucaultian perspective to consider the human body as a tool of domestication and disciplining, of identification but also of resistance. 3. The body as the basis of "being in the world". According to this view, the body is not considered as an object ¿as for instance is the case of biomedicine- nor just as a mere product of a social order, but rather as a real subject of sensations and experiences, as a source of subjectivity. In my presentation, I will illustrate and discuss these different but complementary approaches mainly based on empirical data concerning body modification gathered in fieldworks that I carried out in Equatorial Guinea in the past.