Body/embodiment ─ Symbolic Interaction And the Sociology of the Body

The body is not just an artifact but actually a many-chambered vessel of great significance to the individual and society; body, self and social interaction are intimately interrelated and constantly reconfigured. Using empirical evidence and armed with symbolic interactionism as explored by John Dewey, William James, Charles Pierce, Charles Copley and George Herbert Mead, contributors explore the sociology of the body in terms of its reflexivity, drama, phenomenology, place in the culture, and function as a form of narrative. papers cover such topics as visibility and invisibility in chronic illness and disability, embodied enactment and experience, managing disabilities and the precariousness of the territories of the self, performance, the body in interpretive sociology, human-horse interaction, the addict's body, the dualism of body image, food metaphors and the black body, masculinity and pregnancy. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dennis D. Waskul is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Minnesota State University Mankato, USA. His empirical and theoretical articles have been published in Symbolic Interaction, New Media & Society, The Information Society, and Sociological Spectrum. His research interests have been largely organized around the dynamics of embodiment, with special interest in liminal circumstances where fantasy, imagination, and reality coexist. Phillip Vannini is a Research Fellow in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University in Victoria, Canada. He has published theory and research dealing with semiotics and symbolic interactionism, and the semiotics of the body in the following journals: Journal of Popular Culture, CTheory, Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, Studies in Symbolic Interaction, and Symbolic Interaction.