How we DO our bodies? ( Valid until 30 June 2010 – Day 91- Day 86)
Mol and Law, in their specific study of how hypoglycaemia is handled by people with diabetes, are attending the way we DO our bodies. By attempting to leave the commonplace that we have and are our bodies, they talk about the body that is not a bounded whole, but its boundaries leak. As they argue, “bits and pieces of the outside get incorporated within the active body; while the centre of some bodily activities is beyond the skin.” (2004, p.1) This body is not a well defined whole; it is not closed off, but has semi-permeable boundaries.
In a similar manner, Maike Blekeer writes about the historical anatomic theatre, where the body as well is demonstrated and performed in the same time. Anatomy involves cutting and studying of the bodies, therefore through demonstration “performs constative acts that produce knowledge by means of a public demonstration of ‘how it is’ with the body.’ (Bleeker 2008, ) . This is what Mieke Bal (1996) has termed a ‘gesture of exposing’ that involves the authority of a person who knows, who points to bodies and is capable to ‘construct’ the body ‘as it is’. Mol and Law discuss the measuring procedure, where the body interacts with the machine:
Hands are active in measuring hypoglycaemia but they do not act alone. They interact with machinery. The success of this interaction depends on the extent to which hands and machines are adapted and adaptable to one another. Some things can be done, if only a body is prepared and trained to do them – others falter when a machine is not properly adjusted to the body it must serve. []The actively measuring body merges with its measurement machines. What about the body that feels? (2001, p.10)
And I find this last question quite important. Even more I believe that it should be extended for my study. What about the body that feels and how is that transcribed in a digital data? My body is active in producing and providing data, but my active body is not isolated. Instead the boundaries are leaky. An active body incorporates bits and pieces of the world around it, while its action may be shifted out of the body, excorporated into data. The body becomes a set of tensions.
Similarly to medical sites (hospitals, surgeries etc.), the border sites (border controls, detention camps etc.) are radically exposing the body and are creating extreme conditions of separation between feeling and action. Or as Mol and Law are concluding:
You do not have, you are not, a body-that-hangs-together, naturally, all by itself. Keeping yourself whole is one the tasks of life. It is not given but must be achieved, both beneath the skin and beyond, in practice. (2001, p.15)
Five months pregnant. Entering ** to start up my studies, and enrol. Received a valid visa. Have to go through Entry clearance. I feel really tired, it was a long flight and my body is slowed down. I am waiting in the line, it seems forever, dizzy feeling in my head, the plane was late, I have to catch a bus, its almost midnight, I am going to this town first time in my life and …I am not alone.
Good evening.
Good evening.
( few more minutes, she disappears without explanation in a door behind the post, nausia)
Do you have all the support documents?
Of course.
( I am handing down a folder filled with documents, some of them quite personal, like a complete bank statement. She reads them slowly and talks into her chin)
Who is pregnant?
I am pregnant.
( She seems rather surprised, confused and in panic)
You know you are not allowed to give birth in this country.
( I am not quite sure about the legal legitimacy of her statement, but I go with it).
I am aware; I have a return ticket for next week.
( She is still uneasy, she leaves the post one more time. She comes back in 15 minutes, I am freezing, hungry and really exhausted)
OK, all your documents are valid. But, you have to go through a medical examination.
( My body is alerted)
Can you please tell me what does that means?
Well, usually it’s a thorough examination, can include gynaecological check, X-Ray…
But, I am pregnant.
Well, the doctor will know.
( She leads me towards a back room, I am considering what shall I do, my brain is slow)
Oh, they are closed, they work only till 10 pm. Well, next time then.
( She leaves, I am standing in front of the closed office, speechless, was all of this necessary? )
