IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section B

Abstract

Introducing a broader concept of the ‘body,’ the paper aims to record the body as an extended phenomenon to explore its role in shaping and establishing identity. Terming this notion the ‘Extended Body’, the paper defines it as an evolving perimeter that the body constructs around itself by momentarily being part of objects, spatial patterns and other bodies, using them as ‘Extensions’ of its ‘self’. It proposes that the Extended body, allows the body to inhabit an unfamiliar space, by choosing extensions that offer ambiguous characteristics of cultural and personal familiarity. The ethnographic research aims to develop a method to capture, analyse and visually represent the Extended Body by looking at the it as a rhizomatic (Guattari, F. and Deleuze, G., 2000., Adkins, B., 2015), non-hierarchical form in the spatial setting of the intermediate space, allowing for the identity of the body to be seen as fluid, nonlinear and with multiplicities. The non-fixation about the form of the body is perceived from my understanding of the body as a practising Hindu belonging to the Konkani culture. The rhizomatic representation would allow the body to be seen as a transient process where its identity is not fixed. This fluid definition hopes to understand the body as a process and not a concept, an entity that has not become but is becoming (Ahmed, S., 1999., Braidotti, R., 1994.) Aligning with the theme of ‘Communities and Culture’, the paper is situated within the current context of unprecedented immigration where migration intersects with issues of exclusion and differentiation arising from unfamiliarity. Using the case study of voluntarily displaced Indian-Hindu migrants, the research aims to represent how migrant bodies shape and negotiate their identity in response to these challenges.