‘A Punch Has No Paternity!’: techniques, belonging and the Mexicanidad of Xilam

This article combines ethnographic and netnographic data to explore the relationships between body techniques and a sense of belonging through the contemporary Mexican martial art of Xilam. This art, founded by a female Mexican martial arts veteran, is slowly developing as a hand-to-hand sport, and has attracted critics for its supposed use of East Asian fighting techniques. Netnographic data reveal online debates on the origins and ‘true belonging’ of specific techniques while ethnographic fieldwork in a Xilam school demonstrates how the art is made ‘Mexican’ through specific accompanying practices and philosophy surrounding the movements. The movements of sitting, punching and standing are selected as key examples as understood through Mauss’s classic thesis. I conclude that Xilam follows a philosophical pedagogy that associates these techniques with a sense of Mexicanness – Mexicanidad.

AGAINST EPISTEMOLOGICAL HIERARCHIES: ON THE VALUE OF FORMING BODILY KNOWLEDGE

The article reveals such concepts as “metis,” “body techniques,” “practical skill,” “kinesthetic intelligence,” and “movement skill.” These concepts are united by the fact that the accumulation of knowledge is presented as a largely unconscious process in which muscles play the same role as the brain. The essence of these concepts can be expressed in the term “bodily knowledge,” which contrasts itself in the epistemological sense with codified practical knowledge, instructions, and rules – techne. Bodily knowledge is based on movements and muscle sensations. Russian physiologist I.M. Sechenov called this sensation “dark,” pointing out that such sensations are almost impossible to comprehend, describe, and analyze. However, such feelings cannot be entirely opposed to thought. This “smart skill,” as poet and writer Varlam Shalamov called it, can be considered a separate type of cognition. This article is an attempt to comprehensively discuss the concept of “body knowledge.”

Efficacy of Short Course of Preksha Dhyana for Functional Abdominal Pain Disorder in a Busy Pediatric Clinic

Introduction: Mind body techniques such as meditation improve symptoms in children and adults with IBS. Typical courses, however, are lengthy and difficult to administer. We report our experience with a short course of Preksha Dhyana (PD), a child-friendly focused meditation with yoga.Method: Physicians deliver focused meditation while medical assistants taught yoga. Three sessions were administered biweekly with recommendations for daily practice. Pain severity Likert scores were compared with a treatment as usual (TAU) historical control. Anxiety scores were compared from baseline in the PD group.Results: Thirty PD patients aged 9–17 (20 female) and 52 consecutive TAU group aged 5–17 (33 female) were reviewed. The biweekly sessions had high (71%) completion rates. Utilization rates of PD were similar to TAU despite added sessions. The PD group had an average time of follow-up of 8.9 ± 9.4 vs. 6.0 ± 3.9 months in the TAU group (p = 0.522). Changes in pain scores from baseline showed improvement in the PD group, 0.67 ± 0.13 vs. TAU 1.39 ± 0.11 (p = 0.0003). In the PD group, anxiety scores improved significantly from baseline (0.5 vs. 1, P < 0.001). Pain improved in 93% (28/30) and resolved in 47% (14/30).Conclusion: A short course of PD was successfully embedded in a busy pediatric office without additional staffing. The approach proved cost-effective without increasing overall healthcare utilization and showed significant benefits over TAU. Pending RCT confirmation, this offers a cost-effective method to incorporate mind–body techniques into a pediatric office practice.

Práticas corporais, comunidades quilombolas e identidade: uma revisão narrativa (Body practices, quilombola communities and identity: narrative review)

O objetivo do estudo foi investigar a constituição da identidade de comunidades quilombolas no Brasil por meio de suas práticas corporais, identificando na produção do conhecimento temas específicos, abordagens de pesquisa, teorias e conceitos que têm sido mobilizados. Tratou-se de uma pesquisa teórica de tipo bibliográfica, caracterizada como uma revisão narrativa. O levantamento de literatura foi realizado em bases de dados por meio de unitermos que nos levaram a 77 artigos indexados. Após a operação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão foram analisados 11 artigos. Os autores se ampararam em discussões teóricas que envolvem conceitos ou categorias sobre memória, hibridismo, etnogênese, técnicas corporais, etnia, cultura popular, identidade e patrimônio cultural. Quanto as práticas corporais investigadas observamos 10 manifestações diferentes que se caracterizam como práticas coletivas comunitárias e regionais. Assim, a identidade quilombola se apresenta sob aspectos plurais, por meio da inexistência de uma identidade quilombola e da prevalência de identidades quilombolas no plural. Abstract. This study aims at investigating the constitution of the identity of quilombola communities in Brazil through their body practices by identifying in the production of knowledge specific themes, research approaches, theories and concepts that have been mobilized. It was about a theoretical research of bibliographic type, characterized as a narrative review. The literature survey was carried out based on databases by means of keywords that led us to 77 indexed articles. After the operation of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 articles were analyzed. The authors supported themselves in theoretical discussions, which involve concepts or categories about memory, hybridity, ethnogenesis, body techniques, ethnicity, popular culture, identity and cultural heritage. As a result, through the investigated body practices we were able to observe 10 different manifestations that are characterized as collective community and regional practices. Thus, the quilombola identity introduces itself in plural aspects, through the inexistence of a quilombola identity and the prevalence of quilombola identities in the plural.

Techniques for Egyptian Eyes: Diplomacy and the Transmission of Cosmetic Practices between Egypt and Kerma

This article examines the context and distribution of Egyptian eye cosmetic equipment, kohl pots and sticks, found at Classic Kerma (c. 1650–1550 BCE) sites in Upper Nubia in modern-day Sudan. It is argued that these cosmetic assemblages, which included the body techniques, etiquettes, and embodied experiences involved in its application, display, and removal, were forms of courtly habitus adopted from Egypt. Diplomacy is suggested to be the primary process through which these objects and practices were transmitted, as diplomatic visits facilitated the performance of court habitus in intercultural encounters. Kerman agency in consuming and adapting these forms of habitus were negotiated through personal relationships and interactions with Egyptian diplomats that worked to create shared forms of interregional court identities.

Learning Body Techniques: Dance and Body Flexibility among Gay Black Teens in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

This article is the result of ethnographic fieldwork among amateur dancers, mainly among gay adolescents from the outskirts of Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), who label themselves as “flexible”. This self-definition arises out of bodily flexibility techniques, cultivated through intense physical work. By focusing on specific training situations, such as stretching exercises, I trace understand how the “flexible” body is built. I propose that the language mobilized by these young people offer an important guide to understanding the distinctive elements of this practice. The practitioners’ accounts and my own observations of the practice indicate that the embodiment of acrobatic skills occurs in a process that weaves body and environment. Following Ingold, I argue that an ecological approach help us to comprehend this kinesthetic practice as spatial realization, as well as providing useful insights into its learning practices exploring the richly sensory dimension of learning practices and development of motor sensibilities, such as the sound and the imperative pain experience. Furthermore, I analyze how my interlocutors’ concept of body fits the theoretical idea of how bodies should not be defined by what they are, but rather by what they are able to do.