Abstract
The issue of identity has gained significant traction in the literature over several years. My research aims to answer whether somaesthetic and sarkaesthetic approaches can respond satisfactorily to the debate on universalism and difference in identity politics. To formulate an answer to my question, I unpack one problem of identity politics, which is debated from two specific standpoints. On the one hand, universalists argue that all human beings ought to be recognized for their inherent human dignity – that which makes us all universal human beings. On the other hand, the politics of difference advocates for people to be recognized according to their differences. I argue that the debate on universalism and difference in identity politics (a highly contested topic) is fuelled by two approaches that I assert are too extreme in their desires for recognition. As such, I claim that a middle way in this debate on identity politics needs to be established to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the black South African female dancer forms her identity within the context of identity politics. Furthermore, how do the somaesthetic and sarkaesthetic approaches aid the establishment of a middle way in the debate on universalism and difference in identity politics?
I employ Richard Shusterman’s (2008) somaesthetics to analyse how the bodily dimension of the identity of the black South African female dancer is formed. Shusterman (2008) defines somaesthetics as “[t]he critical study and meliorative cultivation of how we experience and use the living body (or soma) as a site of sensory appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-fashioning” (Shusterman, 2012:43). I argue that dance as a somaesthetic activity deepens and develops the dancer’s knowledge of self and thus her self-recognition. In addition, it provides a platform for creating new somaesthetic experiences. Although somaesthetics proves helpful in response to identity politics because of its focus on lived experience, a supplementary approach is required. I employ Paul Taylor’s (2016) sarkaesthetics, which he defines as the view of the body as flesh from the outside. Considering both inner and outer influences on how the black South African female dancing body is perceived, this combination proves fruitful in responding to the problem of universalism and difference in identity politics.
Although the combination of the somaesthetic and sarkaesthetic provide a meaningful way to look at the problem of identity politics, it lacks phenomenological elements to sufficiently establish a middle way in the debate. I finally propose that a middle way can be established by considering Martin Heidegger’s historicity and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s embodied phenomenology, the combination of somaesthetics and phenomenology, and dance performance. Historicity informs us that people are thrown into a context they cannot escape. Embodied phenomenology advocates for the idea that we experience the world through and with our bodies. Dance provides a platform for the dancer to create new somaesthetic experiences and enables her to transcend her lived reality by assuming a particular role or character during the dance. Assuming a position, role, or character in the performance renders the negative associations with the various aspects of her identity meaningless.
In essence, I propose that a combination of somaesthetics, sarkaestherics, historicity, embodied philosophy, and phenomenology provides a middle way of approaching the debate on the problem of universalism and difference in identity politics. The combination of somaesthetics and sarkaesthetics respond to the inner-outer dichotomy in identity. Somaesthetics analyses the dancer's lived experience neglected in identity politics. Sarkaesthetics emphasises the underexplored representational aspect of somaesthetics from an external point of view. Historicity, embodied identity, combining somaesthetics and phenomenology, and dance performance provides a middle way. It considers the varying, intersecting aspects of experience (phenomenology) to explain the unique identity of the black South African female dancer. It focuses not as much on the dichotomy between universalism and difference, but on the uniqueness of the individual rooted in their lived experiences, embodied identity, and historicity.