Embodiment: Concepts in Anthropology

A preview of "embodiment" as anthropologists use it. Terms and concepts covered include: Phenomenology (implies that we all see objects differently, depending on our experiences and perceptions; you never know things as they are, you never know a thing 'in itself' [noumenon], all you know is what you get from your perception and experience of it [phenomenon]; and this perception is, according to Merleau-Ponty inescapably stuck in our own subjectivity / body); Embodiment (cultural 'muscle memory'); habitus (your taste, accent, style, dress etc. which reflects class, ethnic etc identity).
Cultures covered included: Orthodox Jewish, Azande, Javanese, Vietnamese, Kuranko
Recommended reading:
* Carruthers, A 1998, 'Kung Fu Fighting: The Cultural Pedagogy of the Body in the Vovinam Overseas Vietnamese Martial Arts School', Australian Journal of Anthropology, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 45-57.
* Downey, G 2002, "Listening to Capoeira: Phenomenology, Embodiment and the Materiality of Music", Ethnomusicology, vol. 46, no. 3, pp.487-509.
* Thomson, P 2008, 'Field', in M Grenfell (ed.), Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, Acumen, Stocksfield, pp. 67-71.
*Taylor, C 1989, 'Embodied Agency'Merleau-Ponty: Critical Essays, University Press of America, Washington D.C., pp. 1-21.
*Wainwright, S, P. & Turner, BS 2004, 'Narratives of Embodiment: Body, Aging, and Career in Royal Ballet Dancers', in H Thomas & J Ahmed (eds), Cultural Bodies: Ethnography and Theory, Blackwell, Madden, MA, pp. 98-120.
About me: I'm Nick Herriman, author of the books "Entangled State" and "Witch-hunt and Conspiracy". I lecture in Anthropology at La Trobe University. I am also the 'Audible Anthropologist' on iTunes.
About "25 Concepts in Anthropology": I preview what I think are the 25 most important concepts in socio-cultural anthropology. Each concept provides a unique insight into what it is to be human.
See my Blogs on:
*fieldwork in the Cocos Islands nicholasherriman.blogspot.com.au
* the Anthropology of Symbols anthropologyofsymbols.blogspot...

[@user-fu5cb8jx3e]

Thank you for the lecture! I had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the concept of embodiment which I need to write about for my final. This really helped a lot!

[@NicholasHerriman]

Great. I hope you did well and continue studying!

[@ziduwang6079]

Thank you very much! This is quite helpful and interesting, and I will watch more of your videos.

[@timothysullivan6738]

Thank you for making this available, Dr Herriman. We will be using these lectures as an introduction to Anthropology for our resident physicians training in psychiatry - since psychiatrists are woefully and, in my view as the Training Director, ignorant of Anthropology and all it can help us understand about behavior.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks, Timothy; I hope the training went well. There must be a fascinating world of overlay between psychiatry and anthropology that we've only begun to understand.

[@Naamy19X9]

Amazing introduction to a simple and yet elusive concept. Thank you.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Naamy for your thoughtful comment.

[@Aritul]

Thank you for putting this series together. Definitely will check out the other videos.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

[@Aritul]

Revisited this video again. It's still gold. I loved the examples that you used. They were very clear.

[@theboom679]

Thank you very much ,i read a book in Politics ,came up the word embodiment ,no dictionary could explain to me that meaning of embodiment as good as you ,,you are the best Australian Profesor,all the very best ,Shain,

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks, The Boom, actually many of my colleagues could do a much better job of explaining this, but I really appreciate the compliment.

[@slevenkelevra5135]

I'm currently double majoring in Cultural and Social Anthropology and I thoroughly enjoy your explanations, so I'm going to watch them all in order now.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Sleven, I hope your degree went well.

[@rujerez]

Thank you for the explanation professor. I needed the exact definition of this concept for a paper on figurines of Greater Nicoya.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Ruben, I'm not sure if it's the exact definition, but it is a definition at least.

[@urbanhyena4063]

Great explanation! I think these concepts are important for social work research and practice also

[@NicholasHerriman]

That's interesting to hear. A good theory is applicable to areas other than which the theorist originally applied it to.

[@Cakemonster147]

Fantastic explanation! Thank you!

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks to you for the positive feedback!

[@Theembodimentchannel]

Nice explanation. The body doesn't just express values though it holds them in place. I'd also argue it's individually psychological as well as cultural

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks. Interesting idea; worth debating.

[@virginasanchez3259]

This is a great lesson, very interestingly explained. Thanks professor Herriman.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Virgina, I appreciate your comment.

[@mzanzifosho1]

Wonderful.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Brandaan. I appreciate it. But I must say that Bourdieu was wonderful; I'm just spreading the word.

[@brianmabhena815]

thanks so much Doc, this really helped me understand embodiment much better 😁

[@teksharian2066]

Thank you!

[@JontieDesario]

Thanks a million Nicholas, another great, informative video!

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks to you for taking the time to make the compliment!

[@Curls008]

This was a really useful explanation. Thank you! :)

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Tanisha!

[@habysow1294]

Thank you! This is well explained and easy to understand!

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thank you for great feedback!

[@hanne424]

Very enlightening! Thanks!

[@NicholasHerriman]

It's not me; we just get the privilege of standing on the shoulders of giants in philosophy!

[@chancehaki]

Wow!! Thank you!!!

[@meteoraproducciones]

Thank you very much I found it very illustrative!

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Miguel I guess I really did illustrate it!

[@aurorasartorialis7092]

I think B-’s concept of cultural capital also belongs on this hypothetical diagram. The overlap of habitus and embodiment seems to fall almost entirely within its bounds.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Seems fair enough to me. I usually teach habitus the week after I teach embodiment: culture-body-mind.blogspot.com/2019/01/field-theory-habitus.html

[@tbreen123456]

Your a lifesaver for my philosophy class

[@NicholasHerriman]

Ha ha I should get a job on Bondi Rescue then!

[@havenbastion]

I find it important to point out that embodiment is a term used in many other ways, not anthropological, and that this definition isn't superiour to them for non-anthropological purposes.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Agreed. All the terms I'm defining in this series have different meanings in specific disciplines. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@potugadu5160]

Informative! Are these concepts/videos ordered in some sequence? I am completely new to anthropology. Hence the question.

[@NicholasHerriman]

The order is quite random, except the first one, which is on the concept of "anthropology"

[@Bainila]

Thanks for the very informative video. However, can I please ask you to number the concepts in your video title? It would be easier to cover them all. Thanks again.

[@NicholasHerriman]

Thanks Gaychen, when I get some time I might get around to that.

[@chaikazaika5223]

this leads me wondering, what is the social meaning then of me (a girl) walking in a macho man or 'dad' way?

[@NicholasHerriman]

Interesting question. First thing to say is that in Australia, there are many ways for men to walk, and the macho and dad walk are different. At least, that's what I think as a dad! Anyway, the standard answer is that your experience of walking would alter your subjective world. By, e.g. sticking your chest and arms out, you inhabit and experience the world differently. Certain feminist authors would also emphasize physiological difference. In her "Oedipus and the Devil", Roper writes that sexual organs, childbirth, shoulder size, pelvis size etc. matter. So a female doing a man walk experiences the walk itself differently to the way a male does. I think Roper's argument might be controversial today, but I'm not sure because I've reached the limits of my knowledge of scholarship on this fascinating subject 😅

[@meikerieger2899]

Hahaha your too funny

[@NicholasHerriman]

I try my best!