Techniques of the Body - 2583 Words

As human beings we are very active creatures. It is very rare we sit absolutely still with no movement at all, in fact to do so would be considered strange in most social contexts. These movements are not however sporadic, they are in fact highly controlled, practiced skills. Even when remaining relatively still, for example, to rest or sleep, we have still been taught the required skills to do so, whether it’s how to sit on a chair or lay on a bed, these are very ordinary, everyday techniques that we take for granted and perceive as something natural, but often they are technique’s we have been taught to do. Marcel Mauss in his work Techniques of the Body (1934) is regarded as the first piece of work to outline a systematic anthropology†¦show more content†¦Bourdieu calls habitus â€Å"a structured and structuring structure, consisting of a system of schemes of perception and appreciation† (Bourdieu 1984:289), put simply it is an explanation of the subjective way in which different groups, be this grouping be by class, age, gender or culture, understand and perceive the world around them. So it can be said that it is from this that differences in taste exist throughout the globe thus creating cultural characteristics and variations. So as many societies differ across the globe, so do their System of symbols, which are based around their taste and cultural beliefs. This then forms different sets of rules of bodily conduct which then become firmly ingrained in their structure through the notion of habitus. It was through observation and with this notion of culture as a structured set of rules that Mauss came to believe that techniques of the body are not just biologically inherent or haphazard, but are in fact highly developed body actions that embody aspects of an individual’s given culture. One of the first examples Mauss gives is of his observation of various armies and the way in which they march. He speaks of how the English army marches with a different step to the French. He noticed this difference in asymmetry when the British Worchester Regiment, having achieved glory amongst the French in the battle of Aisne, requested to march alongside the French Trumpets and drums as a signShow MoreRelatedInte rviewing Techniques And Their Use Of Body Maps3356 Words   |  14 Pages Interviewing Techniques and their Accuracies: Body Maps and their Use in Court or Clinical Settings Name: Claire McGregor Lab Class Number: 131 Student ID: 5259490 Lab Demonstrator: Lianne Atkinson Date: Thursday 13th August 2015 Abstract The present experiment’s aim was to test how well children and adults can use body maps to show where another person was touched. 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