Rethinking repetition in dementia through a cartographic ethnography of subjectivity

• Main Author: Jong-min Jeong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Edinburgh Library 2020-04-01
• Series: Medicine Anthropology Theory
• Subjects: repetition; affect; cartographic ethnography; affordance; discursive practice
• Online Access: http://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/4986

This article critically engages with the predominant understandings of repetitive bodily practices within a dementia context. Rather than interpreting such practices as pathological and abnormal, I instead approach them through an ethnographic mapping, paying particular attention to the affective dynamics of repetition. Critically developing Fernand Deligny’s insights and methods of tracing and mapping bodily movements in dialogue with Tim Ingold’s notion of dwelling, I demonstrate affect-underpinned encounters and interactions of repetitive phenomena. I then argue for the extension of recent anthropological discussions about affect, repetition, and subjectivity by suggesting a more productive dialogue among theories of affect, body, atmosphere, cognition, memory, language, and life history.