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Genesis: Historical research
Reference:

The Body in Historical Space: from Tradition to Postmodernity

Umgaev Semen Aleksandrovich

ORCID: 0000-0003-0778-1607

Senior lecturer at Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov

358000, Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, Pushkin str., 11

sam_umg@yahoo.com
Dzhalsanova Eseniya Sanalovna

Student of Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov

358000, Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, Pushkin str., 11

eseniasanalovna@yandex.ru
Kyukenov Danzan Valer'evich

Student of Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov

358000, Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, Pushkin str., 11

eseniasanalovna@yandex.ru
Vasyarkieva Tsagan Ochirovna

Student of Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov

358000, Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, Pushkin str., 11

eseniasanalovna@yandex.ru
Chudutova Alina Mergenovna

Student of Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov

358000, Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, Pushkin str., 11

eseniasanalovna@yandex.ru

DOI:

10.25136/2409-868X.2023.2.39692

EDN:

JNOIEF

Received:

30-01-2023


Published:

28-02-2023


Abstract: The article is devoted to the changes in the perception of the body and the corporeal that occurred in the twentieth century, when traditional society was replaced by modern society, the society of modernity. Another transition takes place in the second half of the century, when humanity takes a step towards the situation of postmodernity, postmodernity, which also brings a variety of changes in the idea of the corporeal. The body is a socio-cultural construct, it is produced and reproduced in different ways depending on both the historical epoch and ethnic differences. The purpose of the article is to reveal these changes in the context of a principled approach to the body and physicality.The article uses the method of historical and ethnological analysis of historiography, as well as field sources obtained by the author during field studies of the practice of oriental martial arts in modern halls of Moscow and Elista.    The result of the study is the conclusion about the essential nature of changes in attitude to the body. In traditional European culture, the body is thought of in opposition to the spirit, as a vessel containing it, as, for example, the body of a king is equated in the political theology of the Middle Ages to the whole state apparatus. In the industrial world of modernity, the body is thought of as a mechanism, and in a work situation – as an appendage to machine production. In a postmodern situation, the discourse of the body splits into transhumanistic and non–traditional - there is a kind of rollback to the old meanings, but in a new reading. The conclusions made by the author are, perhaps, a step towards a comprehensive understanding of the already double transformation that physicality undertook in the XX century.


Keywords:

History of the Body, History of the Sport, Body Techniques, Martial Arts, Corporality, Single Combat, Postmodern, Marcel Mauss, Change of Corporality, Anthropology of Sports

This article is automatically translated.

The human body is another social construct that has a historical dynamic of change. Historically, ideas about the body have changed, each epoch has developed its own ideas about the body. After all, the human body is a "constantly produced and re-produced cultural construct." [10]

The purpose of the article is to reveal the general nature of the dynamics of changes in body concepts at the moments of paradigm shift from traditional society to modern society, and then to postmodern society. The article is based on the analysis of key historiography. The author's field observations are also used in the part that concerns the use of terminology in various martial arts.

In general, interest in the body is not obvious, for a long time the body was thought of as inextricably linked, integral in relation to a person, and therefore something natural, having a biological nature. Accordingly, the body was of interest only to biological anthropologists as a matter of biological unity and difference. The body itself, its movements and manifestations were understood as something natural, conditioned by the biological nature of man, unrelated to the social. At the same time, modern approaches to the consideration of historical reality force us to approach the issue differently. The body is both a means of communication, a text, a carrier of social information, and a way of perceiving reality (we know reality physically), and a "carrier of social ideas", and a "metaphor of the political/cosmological system", as well as a natural object of human interest. [11]

The traditional medieval world is characterized by the sacralization of the body, which is like a receptacle for the soul or the divine spirit. The body is a vessel, but by no means a subject in itself. Ernest Kantorovich in his work "Two bodies of the king" noticed that the body of the king plays a special role in the political and cultural life of medieval Europe. The royal physicality has the property of immortality, and the king himself is like a filler for the royal body that is replaced along the dynastic line. The very name of the state apparatus, corpus, in Latin means an administrative "body" that never dies, comes from the idea of a royal body, cementing the inherited state with its immortality. At the same time, this concept has theological grounds, as well as political and legal implications.[2]

In general, in the Middle Ages, the body, on the one hand, played an insignificant role, bodily practices, sports, bodily pleasures were not encouraged by Christian doctrine, because it was believed that the immortal soul was primary and most important. Moreover, techniques of "killing" the body, self-mutilation and suffering, various fasts and deprivations were common. At the same time, the bodies that contained "special" entities, such as the king or the divine spirit, seemed to be sacralized, as if a piece of the spirit that once inhabited them remained in them, and from this came, for example, the worship of holy relics. And the Church itself was considered the "body of Christ" in a sense similar to the body of the king in medieval political theology. In general, in Western civilization, the body is sharply opposed to the spirit.[7]

Of course, it is quite difficult to fix a change in the representation of the body in the historical space, because visual sources are needed here first of all, and preferably moving ones, i.e. film. Thus, in order to notice the bodily changes, it was necessary to have a special transitional era, as well as visualization tools that made it possible to focus attention on the manifestations of the bodily.

True, and one of the first to notice these historical changes in the concepts of the body, the French sociologist and ethnologist Marcel Moss in his article "Body Techniques". [3] Indeed, the body, of course, is natural, but it exists in a social space, it manifests itself and functions depending on social conditions, on the difference in culture and historical development. 

Moss focused on the problem using well-known facts to ethnographers: "I was well aware that, for example, gait, swimming style, and other phenomena of this kind are specific in certain societies, that Polynesians do not swim like us, and my generation did not swim like the current one."[3]

It is noteworthy that Marcel Moss did not just comprehend these changes after the fact, no, he was a living witness of these changes that occurred as a result of the spread of sports culture bearing modern rationality. This is a rational, result-oriented culture, as it were, erased movements, removed any "similarity" with the world of nature and things, leaving only utilitarian conciseness, creating only those movements that are needed.

Moss notes that this apparent rationality changed the imitative, irrational nature when body techniques were taken from the modernist machine world invented by people: "... In addition, they abandoned the habit of swallowing and spitting out water, whereas in my childhood swimmers considered themselves something like steamboats." [3] However, Moss notes that with the improvement of body techniques, there is a rejection of such deliberate imitation, new, more convenient and practical body techniques appear.

In general, sport is not in vain a product of modernity, a product of modernity. It was sports practice that reflected the very idea of the development of body techniques, gave rise to physical culture as a bright phenomenon of modernity.

Similarly, improvement processes took place in purely labor bodily practices, such as physical labor in a factory. Frederick Taylor, one of the legendary founders of the science of management, even formed whole systems of rational actions in the workplace. He seemed to imagine the worker as part of a large mechanical process, which is the factory. The worker was for Taylor an extension of the mechanism or even an independent mechanism. With the help of rationalization of the simplest working functions like bricklaying, shoveling, carrying blocks with cast iron and other similar actions, Taylor in his work "Principles of Scientific Management" creates the image of a new body of modernity. It should be noted that such an approach has significantly influenced American and global industry and ideas about industrial efficiency, while at the same time increasing the workload and operating standards.[4]

Interestingly, there was also a close connection with sports: it was F. Taylor is also credited with inventing the complex movement of the pitcher at the time of the ball in baseball, when a player uses all three axes of rotation to give the ball the greatest speed.

Modern management, however, does not always consider even such essentially corporeal problems as demographic policy in the context of corporeality. It is curious that the body is, as it were, taken "out of the brackets" of the social, manifesting itself only in the form of one of its qualities – "health".[12]

In general, the similarity of movements with mechanisms, some "mechanization" of the human body characterized the twentieth century as a whole. The body was presented as a kind of doll on hinges, the appropriate movements were selected for it. For example, in such sports disciplines as sambo, in self-defense practices constructed within the framework of the body culture, such as the Kadochnikov system, such an understanding of the body is widely used. This is manifested in the use of characteristic terminology, such as "elbow lever", "infringement", "hall". All terminology implies the impact on the fragile "hinges" of the bodily mechanism. 

Some departure from the mechanistic ideas of modernity occurs in the postmodern era, when the Western world begins to show great interest in eastern body techniques, in particular, in martial arts. Oriental martial arts cannot be called a practice of only bodily or only spiritual, because in the space of oriental martial arts, one always generates another, and it is impossible to functionally separate body and spirit. Hence, it is impossible to attribute martial arts, for example, Wingchun or Tai Chi only to the field of sports. [1]

In traditional martial arts, the body has internal, hidden properties. There is, as it were, a body inside the body, a certain system of movements and positions that is not directly related to the muscles. Sometimes it is called "ligaments" or "tendons" (the concept of a "tendon" complex). Hence the concept of "internal" styles in wushu, for example.

Sometimes the body within the body takes on a mystical character. The body seems to be filled with mystical energy like "ki" or "tsy". The training of internal energy allows the body to acquire fantastic properties. The mystical motif in martial arts is perfectly reflected in the mythological culture surrounding these practices. The mythical founders of Chinese Wushu styles are endowed with capabilities related more to the field of witchcraft and mysticism, for example, Zhang Sanfeng, the Taoist and founder of the Taiziquan style, could walk in the rain without getting wet at all.[5]

On the contrary, the pitching body is like an external, muscular force. Modern ideas that gave rise to bodybuilding and generated by bodybuilding, force physical culture to focus on the aesthetic moment, on the proportions and volumes of muscles, on their simplest and most obvious indicator – muscular strength. The whole industry is working to ensure the growth of muscle mass of a modern person. And even here there is a historical dynamic of the transition from the subculture of "basement rocking chairs" to the commercial industry of fitness centers.[9]

In this pursuit of athletic strength and athletic performance, a person goes beyond human capabilities with the help of means provided by modern medicine and biotechnology. Starting from sports nutrition, taking various dietary supplements to taking anabolics and doping.

It is generally recognized that modern sport of great achievements is impossible without substantial doping support of an athlete both during the training and in the competition period.

In general, modernity has really put the human body in the spotlight, but the postmodern situation has posed a new challenge to physicality - overcoming it. Of course, transhumanism is currently a science fiction dream, but various manipulations with one's own body have already captured the public consciousness. And if doping is a way to achieve greater results in sports, then in social terms, textuality changes are widespread: tattoos, plastic surgery, scarring, piercing, etc.  Modern society is literally fascinated by various ways to change its body, so much so that even new terminology is proposed, for example, if for a Polynesian a tattoo is a true social marker, then for a modern person a tattoo is a "somatic modification", an attempt to go beyond oneself.[8]

The peculiarity of modern corporeality is that it is possible to know it with the help of one's body, with the help of ethnological methods. Loik Wakan, in the experience of "pugilistic" cognition, used his own body for a socio-anthropological study of the boxing community and boxing culture in the black ghetto of Chicago. It was the path of the ethnological study of the body in the social space that led him to a whole world of meanings and facts that exist outside of verbal communication and manifest themselves only in the boxing gym. [6]

Thus, the ideas about the corporeal changed along with the cardinal change of the socio-cultural paradigm, the change of the traditional model of society to the modernist one. A significant transformation of ideas about the body takes place at the beginning of the XX century along with the development of modern sports. Bodily techniques are being improved, industrial unification of human movements is taking place. In the situation of the modern crisis of the second half of the twentieth century, physicality acquires a transhumanistic character on the one hand, and on the other hand, there is a rollback to a number of traditional and non–traditional bodily practices, such as oriental martial arts.

References
1. Brown D., Jennings G. In search of a martial habitus: Identifying core dispositions in Wing Chun and Taiji Qu // Fighting Scholars. New York: Anthem Press, 2013-234 p.
2. Kantorowicz E. The King's Two Bodies-A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology. Verlag: Princeton University Press, 1957-616 p.
3. Mauss M. Techniques of the body // Monoscope.org. Available at: https://monoskop.org/images/c/c4/Mauss_Marcel_1935_1973_Techniques_of_the_Body.pdf. (accessed 18.01.2023)
4. Taylor F. The Principles of Scientific Management. N-Y. and London: Harper and brothers pbl. 1919 – 153 p.
5. The father of Tai Chi and a mysterious immortal Zhang Sanfeng // Internal Wudang Martial Arts. Available at: https://internalwudangmartialarts.com/2017/04/17/the-father-of-tai-chi-and-a-mysterious-immortal-zhang-sanfeng/ (accessed 18.01.2023)
6. Wañquant Loic. Body and Soul: Notebook of an Apprentice Boxer. New-York: «Oxford University Press», 2004 – 274 p.
7. Mihajlov M.I. O sootnoshenii duha i tela v istorii kul'tury // V mire nauki i iskusstva: voprosy filologii, iskusstvovedenija i kul'turologii. 2014. ¹10 (41). p. 17-22
8. Nikonorova D.V., Popova A.Ju. Istoricheskij aspekt izuchenija tatuirovki // Vestnik NASA. 2013. ¹1 (9). p. 82-84
9. Nishukov V., Gorjunov M. Telo kachka // Filosofsko-literaturnyj zhurnal «Logos». 2013. ¹5 (95). p.108-118
10. Podoroga V.A. Politiki tela v evropejskoj istorii // Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie. 2005. ¹4. p. 111-128
11. Slanichka S. Istorija tela: novye napravlenija istoricheskih issledovanij // Jaroslavskij pedagogicheskij vestnik. (3). 2003. p. 166-170.
12. Umgaeva O.V. Ivanova L.N. Ocenka trudovyh resursov Respubliki Kalmykija: posledstvija demograficheskogo spada // Jekonomika obrazovanija. 2021. ¹ 6(127). p. 77-82.

Peer Review

Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.

To understand modern man - and philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists are working on this - it is extremely important to turn to the evolution of ideas about man. It is known that ancient people did not initially separate themselves from living and inanimate nature, and a deep interest in the human problem arises only from the Socratic tradition. At the same time, the idea of beauty also evolved, because it is no coincidence that, up to Leonardo da Vinci, beauty was understood more as the inner world of a person than his body. In our age of social networks and universal interest in the virtual, it seems important to turn to the study of the historical tradition of ideas about the human you. These circumstances determine the relevance of the article submitted for review, the subject of which is the human body in the historical space. The author sets out to analyze the general nature of the dynamics of changes in body concepts at the moments of paradigm shift from traditional society to modern society, and then to postmodern society. The work is based on the principles of analysis and synthesis, reliability, objectivity, the methodological basis of the research is a systematic approach, which is based on the consideration of the object as an integral complex of interrelated elements. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the very formulation of the topic: the author, based on the analysis of key historiography, seeks to characterize the evolution of ideas about the human body. Considering the bibliographic list of the article, as a positive point, we note its scale and versatility: in total, the list of references includes 12 different sources and studies. The undoubted advantage of the reviewed article is the attraction of foreign English-language literature, which allows you to expand the views of the Russian audience. Of the works attracted by the author, we will point to the works of F. Taylor, M. Moss, M.I. Mikhailov, D.V. Nikonorova and A.Y. Popova, who focus on various aspects of the study of the spiritual and bodily. Note that the bibliography is important both from a scientific and educational point of view: after reading the text of the article, readers can turn to other materials on its topic. In general, in our opinion, the integrated use of various sources and research contributed to the solution of the tasks facing the author. The style of writing the article can be attributed to a scientific one, at the same time accessible to understanding not only to specialists, but also to a wide readership, to anyone interested in both issues of anthropology in general and problems of physicality in particular. The appeal to the opponents is presented at the level of the collected information received by the author during the work on the topic of the article. The structure of the work is characterized by a certain logic and consistency, it can be distinguished by an introduction, the main part, and conclusion. At the beginning, the author defines the relevance of the topic, shows that according to modern approaches, the body "is both a means of communication, a text, a carrier of social information, and a way of perceiving reality (we know reality bodily), and a "carrier of social representations", and a "metaphor for the political/cosmological system", as well as a natural object of human interest". The author draws attention to the fact that "modernity has really put the human body in the center of attention, but the postmodern situation has posed a new challenge to physicality – its overcoming." The work shows that "in the crisis of modernity in the second half of the twentieth century, physicality acquires a transhumanistic character on the one hand, and on the other hand, there is a rollback to a number of traditional and non–traditional bodily practices, such as oriental martial arts." The main conclusion of the article is that "ideas about the bodily changed along with a fundamental change in the socio-cultural paradigm, the change of the traditional model of society to a modernist one." The article submitted for review is devoted to an urgent topic, will arouse readers' interest, and its materials can be used both in training courses and as part of a study of postmodern trends. There are separate comments to the article: for example, there are some inconsistencies in the text (for example, "the French sociologist and ethnologist Marcel Moss noticed these historical changes in ideas about the body in his article "Body Techniques"). However, in general, in our opinion, the article can be recommended for publication in the journal Genesis: Historical Research.