Final Paper
Dcook-tulane.edu
anthbody-sociallifeofmasks.pptx
The Social life of Face Masks
Masking during the
Coronavirus Pandemic
Masking as Cultural Practice Around the World
For protection: but also….
Masks and facial coverings used around the world in religious ceremonies, carnival, funerary practices, initiation ceremonies etc.
Functions to:
alter who can be seen, and what the wearer can see
aid in spiritual journey or healing (Hmong Shamanism)
mark transformation in ancestral ceremonies (Kwakwaka’wakw)
Transcend social expectations/ social identity
express creativity, individuality (Mardi Gras)
Eagle Mask Kwakwaka’wakw
Hmong Shaman during curing ritual
Venetian carnival
Victor Harris, Mardi Gras Indian, FiYiYI
Face Masks in Response to one’s environment
Pollution mask
Bubonic Plague Doctor
Alice Wong, disability justice advocate
Covering of the face, whether in ceremony or for protection disrupts the social norm (whether intentional or not).
Social life of facemasks…
“Social life of Things”
Arjun Appadurai (1986)
People have attributed meaning to things, (commodities) through social interactions, exchange, trade, and a variety of social settings which instill value to objects within social and cultural context.
Just as the body is endowed with symbolic power through culture - , things (clothing, objects) becomes endowed with a “social life”
What does the author Lynteris refer to in their discussion of the social life of the facemask?
- historical context
- mask Culture
- mask wearing as social ritual
What do masks represent? (In China)
“…in China, for example, it serves as far more than simply a means of protecting oneself from infection. Masks are also a marker of medical modernity, as well as a signal of mutual assurance that allows a society to keep functioning during an epidemic.”
-
What do our current mask wearing practices reveal about contemporary U.S. culture ?
Autonomy/Liberty
Expression of Individuality
Visibility/ Invisibility
Racial Difference and Injustice
Governance and Individual Rights
Symbolic
Our bodies display social meaning
Body ideals
Techniques of the body
Gestures
Embodiment
Ways of moving about in social space
Embodied interaction (Goffman)
Agentic
How bodies part of agency in the world
The self that acts on the world, necessarily does so through the medium of the body, accordingly this approach is often referred to as “embodiment” (CSORDAS 1990)
Body as “artifact” and “agent”
