Vol. 33: 297-317 (Volume publication date October 2004)
(doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143754)
First published online as a Review in Advance on June 10, 2004
The Body Beautiful: Symbolism and Agency in the Social World
Erica ReischerIndependent Scholar, Oakland, California; email: ericar@alumni.princeton.edu
Kathryn S. Koo
Department of English, Saint Mary's College of California, Moraga, California 94575; email: kkoo@stmarys-ca.edu
If the body is, as Douglas argues, a “text” upon which social meanings are inscribed, then a common vocabulary, a common symbol set, is needed to decipher those meanings. Our bodies transmit a dizzying array of complex information about ourselves, with or without our intention, and we and other members of our culture tend to be expert at reading those culturally specific meanings almost instantaneously. But, whereas Americans would understand a ring worn on the third finger of a woman's left hand as a signifier of her status as a married woman, they are likely far less adept at deciphering the significance of a woman's white robes in India, which indicate widowhood. Even within a single culture, the message of the body is subject to change over time. Whereas in many Western cultures a large, plump body once connoted prosperity, health, and high social ranking, this same body now signifies quite the opposite: poverty, ill health, and low socioeconomic status.
If the body is, as Douglas argues, a “text” upon which social meanings are inscribed, then a common vocabulary, a common symbol set, is needed to decipher those meanings. Our bodies transmit a dizzying array of complex information about ourselves, with or without our intention, and we and other members of our culture tend to be expert at reading those culturally specific meanings almost instantaneously. But, whereas Americans would understand a ring worn on the third finger of a woman's left hand as a signifier of her status as a married woman, they are likely far less adept at deciphering the significance of a woman's white robes in India, which indicate widowhood. Even within a single culture, the message of the body is subject to change over time. Whereas in many Western cultures a large, plump body once connoted prosperity, health, and high social ranking, this same body now signifies quite the opposite: poverty, ill health, and low socioeconomic status.
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