Physicality’s Sociality and Sociality’s Physicality
This chapter explores the elusive and porous boundaries of the body among Punata residents as well as the relationship between physicality and sociality. It also considers the conceptualizations people have about the “fluidity” of emotions and the predicaments inherent in the expression of emotions, larger Andean notions of corporeality, sociability, and the flow of substances between individuals. It shows that the individual and social bodies are intrinsically interconnected throughout the Andes: action in one physical or emotional sphere can exert effects in another. It explains how the boundaries of the body are deeply challenged in the context of Punata and offer insights into how illness processes are conceptualized and lived. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the politics of emotional expression; how the “mechanics” of the accumulation and elimination of emotions are inextricably linked to gender, class, ethnicity, and age.