Forms of Technological Embodiment: Reading the Body in Contemporary Culture

Balsamo, Anne

doi:10.4324/9781315094106-33

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, aesthetics and technology can allow for, in some instances, extensions of the disabled person's body, enabling relational practices within their social environments (Shilling 2005). Similar to the approaches of Anne Balsamo (1996), Thomas Csordas (1994) and Chris Shilling (2005), our research suggests that the 'end user's' body in the cases we present is a product of sociocultural and historic processes. However, contrary to anthropological, sociological or cultural studies dealing mainly with the sociocultural dimensions of the body, we wish to turn the gaze to aspects of aesthetics, technology, design and the designer's potential infl uence on a person's body.…”

Section: Designing With Differencesupporting

confidence: 73%

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Ventura

Gunn

2017

Anthropology in Action

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The body as an anthropological nexus of sociocultural norms and conventions has been discussed at length in the humanities and social sciences. However, within the worlds of industrial design, an important player influencing an understanding of the body within a design process has been neglected and that is the industrial designer. Our main thesis considers designing as an anthropological, sociocultural and physical praxis, in the midst of which stand person(s) engaging within their material environments. We argue that, as an interdisciplinary dialogue with anthropologists and designers alike, the industrial designer could pursue a broader perspective than the classic techno-practice perspective, which deliberately detaches the social qualities of human action with the aim of changing user behaviour through the use of medical products. Instead, we propose an understanding of industrial design practice(s) that considers the improvisational and interwovenness of peoples and practices and what this means for attuning industrial design practices accordingly.

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Section: Designing With Differencesupporting

confidence: 73%

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Ventura

Gunn

2017

Anthropology in Action

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“…Cycles presents an embodied experience that falls between and outside the intertwined medical and vernacular ideals of menstruation. Modified by hormonal contraceptives, my body presents neither a normative ideal 28-day cycle reinforced by now widespread use of the contraceptive pill (Oudshoorn, 1994) -nor fulfils the further promise of a cycle fully under control and rendered invisible through the cessation of menstrual flow achieved through a form of 'technological manipulation' (Balsamo, 1996) provided by hormonal contraceptive developments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Challenging Menstrual Norms in Online Medical Advice: Deconstructing Stigma through Entangled Art Practice

Hughes

2018

Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture a

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This article analyses three examples of online medical advice provided by UK based health websites on the topic of menstruation, and reflects on my artistic practice as a critical response to notions of menstrual normativity. The article considers to what extent these online platforms-now part of the cultural fabric of contemporary healthcare advice-sustain dominant Western cultural perceptions of menstruation. Through thematic and comparative analysis, the article explores how these texts reflect cultural discourses around menstruation through reinforcing cis and heteronormative standards, presenting menstruation as failed pregnancy, and as a largely problematic rather than positive experience. The article also reflects upon autobiographical and performative artworks as spaces developed alongside the analysis of the online medical advice texts, which propose and explore resistance to the social stigma still associated with menstruating.

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“…I have contested elsewhere the idea of disembodiment of online action, arguing that the sensual experience of embodiment is not lessened in the digital environment compared to physical gatherings (Chen, 2020). Online bodies materially symbolize sociological and cultural elements attached to individuals and thus are not detached from people's offline identities (Balsamo, 1995). What exists when people use technologies to participate in contention is not a virtual body, but what Jordan (2013, p. 85) calls 'bodily duality' that is a cultural construct by both the real body and the online avatar as agency of culture.…”

Section: Experience Of Embodiment and Online Embodiment In Lgbtq+ Cammentioning

confidence: 99%

Relational interaction and embodiment: Conceptualizing meanings of LGBTQ+ activism in digital China

Chen

2020

Communication and the Public

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This article theoretically and empirically explores meanings of recent activism practised by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other non-heterosexual groups (LGBTQ+) in China. Chinese LGBTQ+ individuals, like the majority of Chinese citizens, are generally self-restrained in popular contention because of the political risks involved. They also face widespread discrimination from the public when revealing their LGBTQ+ identities. This article is concerned with the perceived meanings of Chinese LGBTQ+ individuals suppressing engrained self-constraint to promote LGBTQ+ contention and certain level of collective action. Theoretically, I conceptualize Chinese LGBTQ+ protests as relational interactions undertaken by LGBTQ+ individuals with other people of queer identities (ingroup members), authorities and the public based on the logic of connective action. I also explore the concepts of embodiment and online embodiment to understand individuals’ sensual experiences during LGBTQ+ contention. Empirically, I examine university student Qiu Bai’s lawsuits with the Education Ministry and her social media campaign against homophobic textbooks. Drawing on in-depth interviews and textual analysis, the case study provides a dialectical account of individuals’ experience of embodiment and self-constraint.

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Forms of Technological Embodiment: Reading the Body in Contemporary Culture

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Challenging Menstrual Norms in Online Medical Advice: Deconstructing Stigma through Entangled Art Practice

Relational interaction and embodiment: Conceptualizing meanings of LGBTQ+ activism in digital China

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