Published Article: The Abilities of the Body: A Study from the Theater
This is an Abstract from the Book (pag. 211): Narrating, Representing, Reflecting ‘Disability’: 21st Century ‘American’ Perspectives. Editors Wilfried Raussert and Sarah-Lena Essifi. De Gruyter American Frictions Series, Berlin/Boston: 2024
When do we, as subjects, become aware of the existence of our bodies? What characteristics make us aware of how different we are from each other, and when do we become sensitive to them? These questions have been part of my research, trying to understand the different approaches (between Western and Eastern theories) in which the concept of the human body can be developed, such as the one in favor of homogenization, which tends to create dichotomies between those who do not fit into the homogenizing discourse, or the theories that empower the individual so that he/she is conscious and critical in his/her socio-cultural development.
As a tendency, speaking first from what I thought defined me as a human and what I later perceived in my students, there is a hegemonic tendency, full of categories that seem to pigeonhole us as subjects, with an imaginary need to conform to the conceptualization of what we are. In the words of Marcela Knapp (2020), “Significations are imaginary in the sense that they do not represent something else, but rather the organizing patterns of social reality” (31). The problem is that this social reality can lead to the creation of uniform concepts that end up making everyone the same, thus ignoring the essence of their individuality, that is, the characteristics that make up each subject and that singularize both the psychological behaviors and the physical functioning of each being. Therefore, it is essential to be critical of the current state of disability discourse and to be careful that the concepts that generate social objectivity do not permeate the criteria that cause individuals to be classified as physically or mentally able/disabled.
From what I found in my fieldwork and theater laboratories in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, I came across the concept of disability discourse, which will be included in this study as a cultural narrative from which I depart to reflect on how subjects are constantly categorized and presented in ways that deny the role of uniqueness in each human being. The laboratories were geared to raise body awareness and turn so-called disabilities into paths toward new abilities.
In my studies of the body, first from my theatrical anthropological experience and later as part of my academic studies of literature, combined with theories found in research from other disciplines, I have collected concepts that have helped me to understand the human body as a constant self-discovery. I could understand physical movement out of what Till Frank calls systemic collaboration “self-organizing systems” (60), but for me, there was more than just systemic motor collaboration; I always perceived personal memory as part of the systemic work, connected to social life context and cultural self-definition.
Kommentarer