Desde el cuerpo

Abstract

This article delves into the anthropology of the body and its methodological scope in a feminist ethnography with migrant women. The notion of the body as an “object” was part of the discipline’s early development, and scientific “objectivity” questioned the approach to bodily reflections, emotions and sensations. Since the 1970s, numerous studies have strongly criticized the erasure of bodies and contributed to the understanding of corporeality as a new field of study. At the same time, feminism introduced reflexivity as a central element of the research process. After engaging in a autoethnographic exercise on my own bodily trajectories, I present the methodological decisions that guided qualitative research with migrant women in Arica, on Chile's northern border. To this end, I draw on the concept of “bodily itineraries” which highlights the processes of agency, and I outline the development of four methodological techniques for its approach: life histories, virtual mappings, participatory photographs and body maps. I argue that the feminist approach and the articulation of these methodologies help position ourselves within the research processes and broaden the ethnographic gaze on the bodily dimensions of social phenomena.