scholarly journals Exile and the Disabled Body in Randa Jarrar’s “The Life, Loves, and Adventures of Zelwa the Halfie”

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
Shahd Alshammari
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Body ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Transgenerational Trauma ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Mind

This paper seeks to analyse the notion of exile as one of paradox, of being both within and without, as a disconnect between the mind and body. Edward Said has noted that exile is “strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience”. Said’s suggestion of a mind/body split gives us room to consider the sense of self as already in-between, as the exiled ‘I’ attempts to find a home within a new land and a new body. Exile from one’s own homeland is also exile from one’s body in Arab-American author’s Randa Jarrar’s latest novel Him, Me, and Muhamad Ali (2016). The collection of stories moves away from reclamatory approaches to ethnic identity and examines the characters’ trajectories of selfhood through a gendered, racialized, and embodied image. Disability features as a site of tension, a site of interrogation of Zelwa’s (the protagonist) sense of self. It is a peculiar coming-of-age narrative in the sense that it is an anti-Bildungsroman, a probe into bodies that fail to be integrated, assimilated, or acclimated to American culture, while also failing to maintain their association with an Arab collective identity. Jarrar’s text underscores and redefines the “I” of the Arab immigrant exploring transgenerational trauma and reclaiming her identity through celebrating the body.

scholarly journals The deviant body in neo-Victorian literature: a somatechnical reading of the freak in Rosie Garland’s "The palace of curiosities" (2013)

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Lin Elinor Pettersson
Keyword(s):  
Victorian Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Biological Entity ◽  
Literary Representations ◽  
Freak Show ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
External Forces ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Mind

The contemporary fascination with historical, social and literary representations of the deviant body calls for new understandings of corporeality that question the body as a purely biological entity, and invites readings of corporeality as culturally inflected. The present article explores neo-Victorian enfreakment through the lens of “somatechnics” reading “[e]mbodiment as the incarnation or materialisation of historically and culturally specific discourses and practises” (Sullivan and Murray 2014: 3). I will apply the concept of somatechnics to (neo-)Victorian enfreakment practises drawing on scholars as Bordo (1993), Grosz (1994), Sullivan and Murray (2014) who, among others, have challenged the binary split between the mind and body, and argued for the social construction of embodied subjectivities. Although the body’s physical materiality is irreducible, the body is always invested, shaped and transformed by external forces, or “technologies of power” as denominated by Foucault (2003a). I seek to address the human exhibit in Rosie Garland’s The Palace of Curiosities (2013) to examine neo-Victorian reinventions of the divergent body. With this objective in mind, I will analyse how the neo-Victorian mode interlocks the Victorian freak-show discourse with the reader perspective to bring subjective responses to corporeality, humanity and normativity to the forefront, and in doing so, turns an exploitative space as the freak show into a site of self-reliance, self-expression and even fulfilment.

Variations of the Mixed Discourse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Jaquet
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

Lastly, on the basis of this definition, the author shows how affects shed light on the body-mind relationship and provide an opportunity to produce a mixed discourse that focuses, by turns, on the mental, physical, or psychophysical aspect of affect. The final chapter has two parts: – An analysis of the three categories of affects: mental, physical, and psychophysical – An examination of the variations of Spinoza’s discourse Some affects, such as satisfaction of the mind, are presented as mental, even though they are correlated with the body. Others, such as pain or pleasure, cheerfulness (hilaritas) or melancholy are mainly rooted in the body, even though the mind forms an idea of them. Still others are psychophysical, such as humility or pride, which are expressed at once as bodily postures and states of mind. These affects thus show us how the mind and body are united, all the while expressing themselves differently and specifically, according to their own modalities.

The conflict between mind and body – the case of Mrs. R.

Physiotherapy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Stępień ◽  
Sylwia Chładzińska-Kiejna ◽  
Katarzyna Salamon-Krakowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Family Work ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitalizations ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Memory Awareness ◽  
And Control

AbstractDissociative psychopathology is understood as an immature defence mechanism of personality, based on the techniques of reality distortion. The natural cause of a disorder reflects the lack of sense of coherence between identity, memory, awareness, perception and consequently - goal orientated action. Its symptoms manifest the separation of emotions, thoughts and behaviours bound with an event in order to maintain an illusory sense of control of demanding and unbearable experience.We describe the case of a 57-year-old woman suffering from broad range of dissociative symptoms from early childhood. Decomposition of integrity between memories, a sense of self-identity and control of the body has become the cause of numerous suicide attempts, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and not fully effective therapy attempts. Destructive influence of psychopathological symptoms negatively influenced patient’s life course, decisions made as well as family, work and social life.

scholarly journals On The Verge of the Hybrid Mind

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Surjo Soekadar ◽  
Jennifer Chandler ◽  
Marcello Ienca ◽  
Christoph Bublitz
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Technological Artifacts ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

Recent advances in neurotechnology allow for an increasingly tight integration of the human brain and mind with artificial cognitive systems, blending persons with technologies and creating an assemblage that we call a hybrid mind. In some ways the mind has always been a hybrid, emerging from the interaction of biology, culture (including technological artifacts) and the natural environment. However, with the emergence of neurotechnologies enabling bidirectional flows of information between the brain and AI-enabled devices, integrated into mutually adaptive assemblages, we have arrived at a point where the specific examination of this new instantiation of the hybrid mind is essential. Among the critical questions raised by this development are the effects of these devices on the user’s perception of the self, and on the user’s experience of their own mental contents. Questions arise related to the boundaries of the mind and body and whether the hardware and software that are functionally integrated with the body and mind are to be viewed as parts of the person or separate artifacts subject to different legal treatment. Other questions relate to how to attribute responsibility for actions taken as a result of the operations of a hybrid mind, as well as how to settle questions of the privacy and security of information generated and retained within a hybrid mind.

Clinical Neuropsychologist, 20 years’ experience, UK

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-232
Author(s):  
Markus Reuber ◽  
Gregg H. Rawlings ◽  
Steven C. Schachter
Keyword(s):  
Epileptic Seizures ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Body Awareness ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Epileptic Attack ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Experience Of Illness

This chapter explores how dissociation of awareness of either the mind or the body can be experienced by everyone to some degree. It has been suggested that in Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD), a protective mechanism of enabling individuals to detach from the difficult emotions they have not yet been able to make sense of has led to a detachment from the awareness of the body, thus resulting in physical symptoms that resemble epileptic seizures. Treatment therefore lies in improving both mind and body awareness. Working with individuals with NEAD or Dissociative Seizures introduces one to the multifaceted nature of humanity. Although there are common themes that emerge through psychological assessment—such as prior experience of illness, neurological insult or physical injury to a specific body part, difficulty recognizing stress in the body or mind, or a tendency to use unhelpful coping strategies during prolonged periods of stress,—no two persons with NEAD have the same seizures because each individual’s experience is unique, making the nature and clinical presentation of the seizure-like experiences idiosyncratic. Despite this, it is always possible to discover the reason that individuals with NEAD experience the symptoms they do, even if it is sometimes initially hard for the individual to accept or believe this.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Mind-Body Dualism and Personal Values

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Gunne Grankvist ◽  
Petri Kajonius ◽  
Bjorn Persson
Keyword(s):  
Personal Values ◽  
Mental States ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Dualists view the mind and the body as two fundamental different “things”, equally real and independent of each other. Cartesian thought, or substance dualism, maintains that the mind and body are two different substances, the non-physical and the physical, and a causal relationship is assumed to exist between them. Physicalism, on the other hand, is the idea that everything that exists is either physical or totally dependent of and determined by physical items. Hence, all mental states are fundamentally physical states. In the current study we investigated to what degree Swedish university students’ beliefs in mind-body dualism is explained by the importance they attach to personal values. A self-report inventory was used to measure their beliefs and values. Students who held stronger dualistic beliefs attach less importance to the power value (i.e., the effort to achieve social status, prestige, and control or dominance over people and resources). This finding shows that the strength in laypeople’s beliefs in dualism is partially explained by the importance they attach to personal values.</p>

scholarly journals Respecting the Aging Self: Communication in the Nursing Home

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Tinney
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
The Body ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Emotional Needs ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Work Routines ◽  
A Site

This article draws on findings of an ethnographic nursing home study that explores the role of communication in maintaining residents’ sense of self. These findings suggest that the nursing home can be a site for recovery for the aging self, despite loss and bereavement and the negative effects on self-esteem of pain, illness and loss of function. However, where care privileges the body over social and emotional needs, residents have inadequate opportunities for communication essential to make sense of being old and in care. The key to sustaining the aging self is empathetic communication that recognizes the individuality and value of each older person, no matter how reduced by present illness or incapacity, and at the same time respects residents’ rights of choice and personal control. Harried staff, often well-intentioned but unsupported by management, carry an unfair burden. Frequently called upon to do more with less, they find themselves faced with the competing pressures of work routines and residents’ emotional needs. In trying to balance these competing needs and provide opportunities for residents to exert personal control over their lives, they must protect both the residents and themselves from the results of “wrong” choices.

Coming of Age with Anne Moody

Meridians ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-64
Author(s):  
Tracey Jean Boisseau
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Structural Explanation ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
Anne Moody

Abstract This essay offers a close reading of Anne Moody’s widely read but under-theorized memoir of the civil rights movement, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968). This essay’s focus mirrors a main focus in Moody’s narrative: her relationship with her mother. Much of the body of literary criticism, as well as historical writings dealing with African American mother-daughter conflict, centers on the observation that Black mothers have often found themselves in conflict with daughters whom they seek to protect by schooling them in accommodationist behavior to better survive in the face of white racism and violence. To strand the analysis there, however, leaves one unable to understand the historically specific nature of the acute generational conflict between Moody and her mother and leaves one without structural explanation for young people’s unprecedented involvement in the 1950s–1960s civil rights movement. This article explores Anne Moody’s daughterly point of view as expressed in her writing to understand why and how Anne was able to develop a distinct sense of self and consciousness, one that alienated her from her mother and laid the groundwork for her activist leadership as well as that of her generational cohort.

Militancy

2021 ◽  
pp. 136-169
Author(s):  
Lyndsey Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
The Mind

This chapter explains an apparent paradox—that the Kenney sisters always defined themselves as militant but were almost never violent—by conceptualizing militancy as a collective identity, rather than a set of practices. It explains what it meant to be a militant, not through the acts which militancy involved but the relationships which enabled and sustained it. Analysing the connections between militant identity and community helps account for the intensity of the Kenneys’ commitment to the cause and the diverse expressions of that commitment. Focusing on the meaning, not the form, of militancy, this chapter argues that militancy was a question of identification, not practice. It was created in the mind, not an act of the body.

The Influence of Exercise and Rehabilitation on the Mind and Body

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Wallace ◽  
Janice Brock Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Lower Back ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Base Of Support ◽  
Breathing Meditation

Let’s continue on the self-help road to improving fibromyalgia symptoms. Suppose we are eating healthy, well-balanced meals, are no longer smoking, have learned to pace ourselves, cope with changes in the weather, are sleeping well, and have reconfigured the house. At this point, how can the body be trained to reduce pain, stiffness, and fatigue? This chapter will explore how physical, mental, and complementary modalities allow fibromyalgia patients to feel better about their bodies and minds. Therapeutic regimens that help the body and mind, whether physical therapy, yoga, acupuncture, or chiropractic methods, are all based on similar tenets of body mechanics: 1. Fibromyalgia patients will never improve unless they have good posture. Bad posture aggravates musculoskeletal pain and creates tight, stiff, sore muscles. Therefore, stretch, change positions, and have a good workstation that does not require too much leaning or reaching. 2. The way we get around is a demonstration of body mechanics. The fundamental principles of good body mechanics in fibromyalgia include using a broad base of support by distributing loads to stronger joints with a greater surface area, keeping things close to the body to provide leverage, minimizing reaching, and not putting too much pressure on the lower back. Also, don’t stay in the same position for a prolonged period of time. 3. Exercise is necessary. It improves our sense of well-being, strengthens muscles and bones, allows restful sleep, relieves stress, releases serotonin and endorphins, which decreases pain, and burns calories. 4. Don’t be shy about using supports. Whether it be an armrest, special chair, brace, wall, railing, pillow, furniture, slings, pockets, or even another person’s body, supports allow fibromyalgia patients to decrease the amount of weight or stress that would otherwise be applied to the body, producing discomfort or pain. 5. All activities should be conducive to relaxation and stress reduction, whether they be deep breathing, meditation, biofeedback, or guided imagery. There are a surprisingly large number of ways these activities can be carried out. They are discussed in the next few sections.

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