Beyond Pain: The Anthropology of Body Suspensions

Beyond Pain: The Anthropology of Body Suspensions
by: Federica Manfredi (Author)
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Publication Date: 2024/5/3
Language: English
Print Length: 318 pages
ISBN-10: 1805395246
ISBN-13: 9781805395249
Book Description
The practice of body suspension ― piercing one’s own flesh with metal hooks and hanging from them ― and its uniquely sprawling community challenge our cultural understanding of pain. The suspendees experience physical suffering to trigger altered states of consciousness that help them define and create an enhanced version of the self. Through experimental and practice-based methodology, Beyond Pain combines thirteen years of intermittent ethnographical fieldwork during suspension festivals and private events in Italy, Portugal, and Norway, along with online sites such as Facebook groups, to uncover the often silenced and misunderstood voices of the people who undertake this practice.
About the Author
The practice of body suspension ― piercing one’s own flesh with metal hooks and hanging from them ― and its uniquely sprawling community challenge our cultural understanding of pain. The suspendees experience physical suffering to trigger altered states of consciousness that help them define and create an enhanced version of the self. Through experimental and practice-based methodology, Beyond Pain combines thirteen years of intermittent ethnographical fieldwork during suspension festivals and private events in Italy, Portugal, and Norway, along with online sites such as Facebook groups, to uncover the often silenced and misunderstood voices of the people who undertake this practice. Read more