Intimate Skin-To-Skin Touch in Social Encounters: Lamination of Embodied Intertwinings
Intimate Skin-To-Skin Touch in Social Encounters: Lamination of Embodied Intertwinings

Summary/Abstract: Recent work on intercorporeality in social interaction has clear and unmistakable origins in Chuck and Candy Goodwin’s early, bold and explorative work. Inspired by the mentorship of Gail Jefferson, the Goodwins laid the ground for an analytical approach that takes into account the simultaneity of actions and the inherently embodied character of sociality (see Goodwin, Cekaite In press). This approach gives concrete shape to the theoretical perspective that discusses human sense-making between corporeal subjects, that is, intercorporeality as a primordial feature of the physicality and materiality of bodily existence (Merleau- Ponty 1964: 175). Thus, language is crucial for meaning making (Linell 2009), but it is embedded and choreographed within evolving contextual configurations (Goodwin, C. 2000). It is the juxtaposition and lamination of multiple resources that mutually enrich each other and constitute ground for meaning making between humans. This thought provoking conceptualization has not only allowed us to tread new paths in research on social interaction, but has also contributed to our understanding and theorizing of human sociality, and provided rich empirical work demonstrating that human intersubjectivity is embodied, i.e., intercorporeal.

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