Karin Johannisson
Uppsala universitet, Sweden
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Published in: Kultur~Natur
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 40:3, p. 19-23
Published: 2009-10-26
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
My focus; within a broader field of the history of emotions and the history of the senses; is on through what bodily strata; and what signs and symptoms modernity was (and is) literally embodied. Defining “modernity” I am following Marshall Berman’s definition: a kind of vital experience - “of space and time; of me and the other; of the possibilities and threats of life” – displaying itself at different points in time; but mostly with reference to the turn of the century 1900.
The aim is to show how intensified social change; on a collective and individual level (i.e. to the elite and bourgeoisie) is deeply related to embodiment. A new body was appearing; characterized by painfully sensitive senses. This modern; and hastily modernized body; was thus highly sensibilized; even “agonized” and phobic; demonstrating a broad spectrum of nervous and burn-out symptoms. Not only perceptions but the senses themselves; like emotions; are culturally flexible; illustrating a transgressive; versatile body.
