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The Voice on the Skin: Self-Mutilation and Merleau-Ponty's Theory of Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Janice McLane
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Abstract

Self-mutilation is generally seen only as a negative response to trauma. But when trauma cannot be expressed, other forms of communication become necessary. As gestural communication, self-mutilation can reorganize and stabilize the trauma victim's world, providing a “voice on the skin” when the actual voice is forbidden. This is a plausible extension of Merleau-Ponty's gestural theory of language, and an interesting comment on his notion of “reversibility” as essential to linguistic communication.

Type
Research Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 11 , Issue 4: Special Issue: Women and Violence , Fall 1996 , pp. 107 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by Hypatia, Inc.

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