The abstract of my text (rus) https://elenagrebenyuk.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BC-%D0%B8-%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C/

1. Body & Poststructuralism
Some of the principles

2. I The experience of body is socially constructed
One’s body is experienced and interpreted in
certain ways depending on what culture he or
she lives in, on gender, social status, natural and
urban environment, etc. We learn from other
people: how to move and hold ourselves, how to
name our bodily sensations and expressions,
and how to evaluate them. Bodies are different
– but the meaning of the differences is created
by people.
It means that we used to take for granted some
assumptions and ways of being, treat them as
“natural”, while they are are quite optional.

3. II The construction of body is politics
At the same time each way of body construction includes some evaluation points, processes of normalization
and marginalization. Quoting Foucault: “The soul is the prison of the body”. The field of “body politics”
investigates and uncovers how it becomes a disciplinary object.
We can notice these politic acts in many usual moments of everyday life: in momentary assessments of the
appearance and feelings of shame, in details of self-presentation and in the way of how space is organized.
Maybe the implicit perception of body as separate and inferior object habituates us to live with the ideas
“opposition is normal", "obedience is normal" and "violence is okay". Than the different body perception can
become a path to a freer society.

4. III Body overflows any of its descriptions
The way I experience my body is not the only
option: it’s just a usual one I can choose, but I
don’t have to. Culture and my own life
experience offers plenty of possibilities, which
don’t fit to this general line. Body is a dynamic,
changeable diversity, and it’s impossible to
grasp it. So, the new practice, language and
focus of attention can make the experience of
body qualitatively different.

5. IV None of the body descriptions is «the correct one»
Some of the models claim to give unambiguous interpretations about body and prescriptions: what the
particular symptom means, what types of bodies are exist, what is right and what is wrong. It doesn’t
look like a good idea, because it reduces one’s agency. Every way of experiencing and describing the
body is relational: it can be useful, but it can be revised and chosen.

6. V Through the new body experience the new
versions of self can become available
Because of its marginal position in our culture on
the one hand - and its ability to go beyond the
borders of any definition on the other, body can be
a guide for the deconstruction and exploration of
the other possible ways of being.

7. Presentation: Elena Grebenyuk
elena.grebenyuk@gmail.com
Photographs by
Henri Cartier Bresson
Helmut Newton
Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Alexander Rodchenko
Ivan Sakharov