Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A haptic geography of the beach: naked bodies, vision and touch

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 8; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14649360701251866

1470-1197

Pau Obrador Pons,

French Urban and Social Studies

Abstract The beach and the naked body are a casualty of the idealism that dominates social sciences. Despite the resurgence of work on embodiment, very few accounts have actually explored the centrality of the body on the beach. Drawing on ethnographic research on the island of Menorca (Spain), this article focuses on practices of nudity on the beach. Instead of giving priority to the representation and meaning of nudity, I am primarily concerned with how it feels to be nude and how nudity is experienced. I want to produce a lively account of the nude beach that makes space for sensuality and enchantment. To this end, I affirm the primacy of the haptic sense on the beach, thus balancing touch and sight, the proximal and the distal, the performative and the representational. Touch offers the opportunity to develop insights into the elusive experience of the beach, the expressive and ethical character of nudism and the interlacing of the body and the environment. The aims of this article are inspired by non-representational approaches in geography. This article attempts to develop this multivarious way of thinking and working in empirically orientated research. La plage et le corps nu sont tous deux victimes de l'idéalisme qui prévaut dans les sciences sociales. Bien qu'il y ait un regain d'intérêt pour la question de l'incarnation, peu d'études ont en effet exploré le rôle central du corps sur la plage. S'appuyant sur une recherche ethnographique réalisée sur l'île de Menorca (Espagne), cet article se focalise sur les pratiques de la nudité sur les plages. Plutôt que de mettre l'accent sur la représentation et la signification de la nudité, je m'intéresse principalement à ce qu'on ressent quand on est nu et à comment la nudité est vécue. Mon but est de fournir une vue d'ensemble vivante de la plage nue qui laisse une place à la sensualité et à l'enchantement. À cet égard, j'affirme la primauté du sens haptique sur les plages, de sorte à établir un équilibre entre le touché et la vue, le proximal et le distal, le performatif et le représentationnel. Le touché offre la possibilité d'approfondir les connaissances sur l'expérience diffuse de la plage, le caractère expressif et éthique relatif à la nudité et l'entrelacement du corps et de l'environnement. Les démarches en géographie de type non représentationnelles sont la source d'inspiration de cet article. Une façon multivariée de penser et de mener des recherches empiriques est ainsi définie dans le cadre de cet article. La playa y el cuerpo desnudo son víctimas del idealismo que domina las ciencias sociales. A pesar del resurgimiento de trabajo sobre la encarnación, son muy pocos los estudios que exploran el papel fundamental jugado por el cuerpo en la playa. Recurriendo a una investigación etnográfica realizada en la isla de Menorca (España), este artículo centra en las prácticas de la desnudez en la playa. En vez de darles prioridad a la representación y el significado de la desnudez, me refiero principalmente a cómo se siente estar desnudo y cómo se experimenta la desnudez. Quiero producir una descripción vívida de la playa desnuda que deja lugar para la sensualidad y el encanto. Con este fin, afirmo la primacía del sentido háptico en la playa, así creando un equilíbrio entre el tacto y la vista, lo próximo y lo lejano, lo performativo y lo representacional. El tacto nos ofrece la oportunidad de llegar a mejor comprender la experiencia elusiva de la playa, el carácter expresivo y ético de la desnudez y el entrelazamiento entre el cuerpo y el entorno. Los objetivos de este artículo son inspirados por enfoques no representativos en la geografía. Este artículo pretende desarrollar este modo multivario de pensar y trabajar en las investigaciones empíricas. Keywords: nuditybeachnon-representational theoryembodimenttouchvisionKeywords: nuditéplagethéorie non représentationnelleincarnationtouchévisionKeywords: desnudez, playa, teoría no representativa, encarnación, tacto, vista Acknowledgements I would like to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful and positive comments as well as Mike Crang, Paul Harrison and my colleges at the University of Exeter. My most sincere gratitude to Jane for proofreading this article. Notes 1 This article uses the term nudism instead of naturism to identify practices of nudity on the beach. I use this term because it is the most commonly used in Menorca. I also preferred it because it avoids an oversimplified identification of the practices of nudity with nature. 2 Menorca is a Catalan-speaking island located in the middle of the western Mediterranean with a population of 71,500 habitants and a size of 701 km2. 3 With over a million tourists a year, 600,000 of whom are British, Menorca is paradigmatic of the function of mass Mediterranean tourism. There are two main kinds of tourism; British and German tourists who book the classical package tour, identified with the slogan 'sun, sea and sand', and Spanish independent tourism. While the island is well positioned in the European market as a family destination, it is also popular amongst the urban middles classes of Madrid and Barcelona as one of the rare destinations in the western Mediterranean in which it is still possible to enjoy 'natural', unspoilt, quiet beaches. In both cases the unique selling point of Menorca derives from its having a more harmonious tourist development than the urban disasters that characterize the Spanish coast. 4 In Menorca there is a vocal minority of nudists inspired by the hippy movement that take the social character of nudism to an extreme. They are a group of people mostly in their 20s who spend long periods of time living on unspoilt beaches either occupying nearby prehistoric caves or camping in the wooded area surrounding the beach. They manage to live with very little infrastructure, constantly challenging the ban on camping. These 'neo-hippy' communities practise a much more collective and pro-active kind of nudism. They do not only go naked to swim and sunbathe, but are also naked during most of the day, e.g. while playing guitar in the woods or juggling on the beach. 5 However, in the summer of 2005 there was a petition asking for the demarcation of family beaches in which children could be protected from nudity. This petition was part of a national campaign and was rejected by the local authorities. 6 As well as general questions on the beach, I asked for the reason for practising nudism, the situations in which people would practise nudism, and the feelings and sensations associated with nudism.