The original intercorporeality of the Self

Season 7 continues with another presentation from our 2022 annual conference, Engaged Phenomenology II: Explorations of Embodiment, Emotions, and Spatiality. This episode features a presentation from Nicole Miglio of the State University of Milan, Italy Abstract: In this talk, I examine the process of pregnancy as a sense-making experience, taking seriously its significance both for the gestating self and for the fetal-other. Drawing on recent developments in phenomenology of pregnancy (e.g., Depraz, 2003; Heinämaa, 2014; Lymer, 2016; Miglio, 2019), as well as the flourishing interest in cognitive science (e.g., Ciaunica et al. 2021), my talk aims to show how in utero tactile and olfactory experiences are original to the being-in-the-world of the human self. In the womb, the subject experiences a unique co-constitution together with their environment, which is, at the same time, the “inside” of another self (the pregnant person). In considering the gestational experience, I argue that the concept of intercorporeality allows us to grasp a common feature of the human being – namely, the fact that our own embodiment is not a private affair, but originally intercorporeal (cf Moran, 2017) The human self finds themselves in an intercorporeal dimension even before their own birth, and conversely the gestating self has some experiences of the fetal-other as living organism inside her – namely kicking, moving, and being with(in) her. By challenging a widespread spatial conception of human pregnancy (in terms of “container” and “inside” see e.g. Dolezal, 2018), my analyses seek to open up a way to address the subject which starts from the phenomenological reality that we are not born as adult and indipendent subjects. Keywords: pregnancy; critical phenomenology; touch; intersubjectivity. Biography: Nicole is a Postdoc Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, State University of Milan. She earned a Ph.D. in Feminist Phenomenology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Milan), during which she did research visiting stays in the US (George Washington University) and in the UK (University of Exeter). After her Ph.D. discussion in September 2021, she held a postdoctoral position at the Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Haifa. Dr. Miglio’s main research areas are contemporary aesthetics, critical phenomenology, and feminist philosophy. She is currently publishing her first monograph, “Gestational Phenomenology. The Radical Intercorporeality of Pregnancy” (forthcoming with Lexington Books). Further Information: This recording is taken from our Annual UK Conference 2022: Engaged Phenomenology II: Explorations of Embodiment, Emotions, and Sociality (Exeter, UK / Hybrid) with the University of Exeter. Sponsored by the Wellcome Centre, Egenis, and the Shame and Medicine project. For the conference our speakers either presented in person at Exeter or remotely to people online and in-room, and the podcast episodes are recorded from the live broadcast feeds. The British Society for Phenomenology is a not-for-profit organisation set up with the intention of promoting research and awareness in the field of Phenomenology and other cognate arms of philosophical thought. Currently, the society accomplishes these aims through its journal, events, and podcast. About our events: https://www.thebsp.org.uk/events/

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