Skin Matters: An Interview with Marc Lafrance

Following the Body & Society special issue, Skin Matters: Thinking Through the Body’s Surfaces (vol. 24, 1–2), Tomoko Tamari conducted an interview with the special issue editor, Marc Lafrance. He argues for the skin as an interface, which both resists and reinforces binary oppositions. Lafrance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theory, culture & society culture & society, 2019-12, Vol.36 (7-8), p.273-291
Main Author: Tamari, Tomoko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Corruption
Embodiment
Human technology relationship
Interviews
Mass media images
Medical technology
Medicine
Reflexivity
Self concept
Skin
Social media
Stigma
Subjectivity
Suffering
Surgery
Technological change
Trauma
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Summary:Following the Body & Society special issue, Skin Matters: Thinking Through the Body’s Surfaces (vol. 24, 1–2), Tomoko Tamari conducted an interview with the special issue editor, Marc Lafrance. He argues for the skin as an interface, which both resists and reinforces binary oppositions. Lafrance is particularly interested in the relationship between the skin and subjectivity, focusing on those who are suffering from traumatic stigmatizing experiences. This theme is also elaborated in the debates around the issue of human-made skin in ‘regenerative medicine’. He argues that while the development of medical technology for human-made organic skin tends often to be welcomed, the actual experience of face-transfer patients following skin graft surgeries is one of physical and psychological hardship along with a complex sense of self-wholeness and ‘reflexive embodiment’. Reflexivity is also an important phenomenon encouraged by the media and social media, which constantly feature representations of the skin.
ISSN:0263-2764
1460-3616
DOI:10.1177/0263276419862853