| A New Alphabet ~ Commentary B 2 | |
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This page composition displays examples of current usage of
the word “embodied,” found using an internet text search
tool for the word. Codified expression occurs in every
social organism and serves an important deictic function by
establishing easily recognized points of reference.
Disclosing codified modes of expression is one of several
destabilizing techniques associated with avant-garde art and
discourse. This destabilization generates unpredictable
meta-text that can stimulate cultural growth. Critical inquiry and parody allow, art and the academy to examine internal codes of reference, particularly where these become entrenched. The tendency to develop habits of codified usage can be found in the academy as well as mainstream culture. In some contexts, the term ‘embodied’ has become a buzz-word, not unlike the word ”hermeneutic,” which appeared quite predictably in the language of critique during the 1980s and 1990s, so much so that it figured in a famous scholarly spoof. Physicist, Alan Sokal included ‘hermeneutic’ in the title to his parody of literary critical practices called, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” (1996) which was published in Social Text, as a legitimate article. In the same month Sokal’s accompanying essay "A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies" (1996) Franca Lingua, explained his hoax. Popularized usage of the term “embodied” has been observed in several disciplines including legal contractual language, scientific research, educational theory, cyber systems, information theory and literary studies. In some instances, the idea of corporeality is absurdly abstracted to near negation. Such demonstrations of terminal over-use may disclose more about cultural patterns of attention and speech habit, than about actual meaning in the topic of discourse. |
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| © Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Contact: Jeanie S. Dean. Updated: 01/18/04 | |
