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Marking the Unmarked: Theorizing Intersectionality and Lived Embodiment Through Mammoth and Antichrist

2015; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-319-15272-1_6

2197-9642

Jenny Björklund, Ingvil Hellstrand, Lisa Folkmarson Käll,

Feminist Theory and Gender Studies

This article confronts the notion of intersectionality with its conditions of materiality and embodiment. Understanding intersectionality as an overarching framework for analyzing power imbalances, we locate the body at the core of intersectionality as the site or situation where intersectional identities emerge and are made manifest. Our point of departure is that identities are always embodied, socially, culturally, spatially, and historically situated, and in continuous relational becoming. Considering the relevance of the body in intersectional structures of domination, our analysis aims to elaborate on the ways in which categories of identity are inscribed precisely as bodily markers and reinforced through embodiment. We discuss and develop the notion of intersectionality in light of lived embodiment. To facilitate our discussion, we use cultural representations, namely, the two contemporary films Mammoth by Lukas Moodysson (2009) and Antichrist by Lars von Trier (2009). The films serve as a particular lens through which intersections of power and dominance are brought to light as embodied, relational, and dynamic. By analyzing scenes from Mammoth and Antichrist, we highlight how intersectional identities are conditioned by and condition embodiment. Our analysis underlines how identity categorizations are inscribed on and in the body and how lived embodiment constitutes the very site in which seemingly stable identity categories intersect and have the potential of being both reproduced and transformed. This theoretical position not only brings to light bodies already marked by intersecting strands of oppression and marginalization but also makes visible the intersectional embodiment of privileged and seemingly unmarked bodies—it marks the unmarked.