Multiple embodiment relations: sense-making in dissociative experiences

ABSTRACT

In response to a call for new conceptualizations of the self that avoid mind/body dualisms, recent research has introduced more flexible and fluid theorizations of personhood. This paper takes a phenomenological approach to examine the perceived shifts in body ownership and distribution of agency which underpin such theorizations. We focus on two dissociative experiences, namely, spirit possession and virtual reality, explicating how consumers can experience changes of perspective by disconnecting from the mainstream of their conscious awareness, allowing for a controlled “letting go,” resulting in therapeutic gains. We highlight how consumers create a larger assemblage of the self beyond single viewpoints for a new kind of experiencing. We argue that existing work has treated embodiment in a fairly symmetrical manner, insufficiently considering the inherently somatic characteristics of consumer experiences as an articulation of a multiplicity and distribution of embodiment and agentic relations, both human and non-human.

KEYWORDS:

• Embodiment
• disembodiment
• dissociation
• agency
• virtual reality
• spirit possession

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We follow Butler (2006) in using the term normative dissociation to designate the presence of normal dissociative processes.

2 Although Merlo et al. (2020) do not specifically use the term dissociative, mind wandering has all the characteristics of normative dissociation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by AHRC: [Grant Number AH/S002758/1]; BA/Leverhulme: [Grant Number SRG\170749].

Notes on contributors

Chloe Preece

Dr Chloe Preece is Associate Professor in Marketing at ESCP Business School. Her research is focused on notions of social, cultural and economic value, primarily in the arts and creative industries. In studying these fields, Chloe takes a critical perspective to analyse the ideological assumptions which underpin markets.

Victoria Rodner

Dr Victoria Rodner is a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Edinburgh (UK) and her main research areas include branding, consumer narratives, affect and atmospheres, institutional change, value creation in the visual arts market, and spiritual consumption. She is a keen qualitative researcher with an interest in grounded theory, embodied research and introspective methodologies, including poetic method. She has published in international marketing, management and sociology journals. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Laryssa Whittaker

Dr Laryssa Whittaker is a Senior Audience Researcher with StoryFutures, an AHRC- funded research, development and innovation project based at Royal Holloway, University of London, which links immersive production companies with academic research. She has led a longitudinal youth audience study on home-use VR, and collaborates on multidisciplinary, mixed methods research supporting StoryFutures' challenge projects and prototypes.