The Body Inside Out:

Emilia Sanabria (1)

1 IIAC - Institut interdisciplinaire d'anthropologie du contemporain

Drawing on ethnographic work on menstruation and gyne- cological examinations and surgeries in Salvador, Brazil, this article explores the way that bodily boundaries are constituted through medi- cal practices. Focusing on the re-enactment of the boundary between the inside and the outside of bodies, it analyzes that which is detached from bodies and, by falling away from them, contributes to their consti- tution. It then considers how the gynecological examination and vaginal plastic surgery can be used to speak of the problematic and contingent act of delimiting bodies from the inside out.

Mots clés: abjection; bodily boundaries; Brazil; dys-appearance; gyneco- logical examination; menstruation; plastic surgery

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Emilia Sanabria. The Body Inside Out:: Menstrual Management and Gynecological Practice in Brazil. Social Analysis, 2011, 55 (1), pp.94-112. ⟨halshs-00957540⟩