Thinking Bodies and Sensational Minds: Affect and Embodiment in Contemporary Art

The human subject is profoundly interdependent, in relation to other people and to the surrounding environment, both “natural” and technological. Western dualistic thinking creates bounded and oppositional categories and generates a conception of human subjects as autonomous, self-sufficient beings that are transparent to themselves and in control of self, other, and world. This contributes to the ongoing inequalities in society and supports normative hegemony. This dissertation argues that it is imperative to insist on the intersubjective, permeable, and contingent qualities of existence. While this project is preceded by a great deal of theoretical criticism of Western metaphysical dualism, we must still continually work to break down the binaries of mind and body, self and other, rational and emotional, culture and nature. We need not just to critique the binaries but to generate new ways of thinking. I propose that art can act as a catalyst for thinking the new. Art can queer the boundaries. It is impossible to separate out the mind from the sensual body in the production or reception of art. Art demonstrates how the sensual and affected/affecting body is integral to the thinking subject, not an impurity or distraction that needs to be controlled.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Media, Art, and Text

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Burke, Sandra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Archana Pathak

• Embodiment
• Affect
• Contemporary Art
• Art and Design
• Arts and Humanities
• Interdisciplinary Arts and Media

Statement dc:rights

• © The Author

Identifier

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/609

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1608