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Is it ‘me’ or is it ‘mine’? The Mycenaean sword as a body-part.

Malafouris, Dr Lambros (2008) Is it ‘me’ or is it ‘mine’? The Mycenaean sword as a body-part. [Book Chapter]

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Abstract

This paper argues that material culture has the ability to change and shape our bodies by transforming and extending the boundaries of our body schema. To explore this argument I concentrate on the relationship between the Mycenaean body and the Mycenaean sword. Focusing on the early Mycenaean period I propose that the centre of consciousness and bodily awareness for the Mycenaean person, and for the warrior in particular, is not some ‘internal’ Cartesian ‘I’, but the tip of the sword. Through the tip of the sword the Mycenaean person is simultaneously reach out, makes sense of and apprehends the world. The sword as an enactive sign brings about a whole new semiotic field of embodied activity offering a new means of engaging the world and as such a novel understanding of what is to be a Mycenaean person and body.

Item Type:Book Chapter
Keywords:Mycenaean sword, past bodies, archaeology and embodiment, object agency, extended person, Mycenaean self, Myceanean warrior
Subjects:Philosophy > Philosophy of Mind
Biology > Cognitive Archeology
ID Code:6432
Deposited By: Malafouris, Dr Lambros
Deposited On:16 May 2009 16:36
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:57

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