Vol. 26:2/3 (2019) ► pp.167–196
The intercorporeality of closing a curtain
Sharing similar past experiences in interaction
Jointly coordinated affective activities are fundamental for social relationships. This study investigates a naturally occurring interaction between two women who produced reciprocal emotional stances towards similar past experiences. Adopting a microanalytic approach, we describe how the participants re-enact their past experiences through different but aligning synchronized gestures. This embodied dialogue evolves into affective flooding, in which participants co-produce their body memories of pulling down window blinds to block out sunshine. We show how the participants live this moment intercorporeally and how multiple timescales are tied together in gesture, which is both an incarnation of body history and a novel expression of it. Thus, collaborative gesturing is a resource for experiencing together emotions re-enacted from body memories. Contributing to our understanding of the intercorporeality of human action, we provide an empirical investigation into how emotions and multiple timescales are nested in cooperative gestures. Data are in Finnish with English translations.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Intercorporeality and interaffectivity in interaction
- 2.Intercorporeal and ecological approaches to gesture
- 3.Sharing emotion and affect in interaction
- 4.Method
- 4.1Data and setting
- 4.2Methodological approach
- 5.Findings
- 5.1Merging into an extended We-relationship
- 5.1.1Affective peak experienced through co-gesturing
- 5.1.2Celebrating the similarity of past experiences and emotional stances
- 5.1.3Experiencing togetherness through a shared re-enactment of past experiences
- 5.2Empathetic co-participation as a basis for emotional alliance
- 5.3Recycling gestures with transformation enables the emergence of a similar but individual emotional stance
- 5.1Merging into an extended We-relationship
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusions
- Note
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References
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.19030.kat