The embodied intellectual: Impression and contact as political currency

Johnson, Clare

Abstract

This paper explores the idea of the embodied intellectual through notions of contact, impression and affect. Through my reading of Tracey Emin’s short film Why I Never Became a Dancer, 1995, I consider the relation of criticality to haptic visuality with a view to articulating an affirmative and embodied understanding of intellectual work. Drawing on the emotional economy of Emin’s film I argue that this work can be understood as an affective encounter through which the relation of politics to intellectual work can be reconfigured. When read through notions of impression and contact the affective economy of her work becomes political currency.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Intellectuals: Knowledge, Power, Ideas
• Start Date: May 1, 2008
• End Date: May 1, 2008
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: affect, embodiment, criticality, Tracey Emin
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1012882