Corporality and performance. People of acquired blindness

Abstract

This article draws on research conducted for a final thesis of the Degree in Anthropology at the National University of Salta. Adopting an ethnographic perpective, the analysis delves into the experience of adults of acquired blindness, based on a period of volunteer work at the Salteña Foundation for the Blind (FUSAC) between March and September 2016. Focusing on instances of learning and teaching, this article reflects on the embodied experience of manufacturing paper bags for sale resorting to the categories of lived body, memory, imaginery and orality. In this sense, it seeks to understand these ways of doing among people of acquired blindess, these forms of paying attention to and with the body, which bring into question stereotypes and prejudices about the capabilities of blind people. Also with regard to corporality and performance, it examines the relations within the Foundation, the shared experiences and the practices and meanings built around a way of being blind.