University of Sussex
Browse
1467-9655.13490.pdf (266.85 kB)

Beyond the senses: perception, the environment, and vision impairment

Download (266.85 kB)
Version 2 2023-06-07, 08:50
Version 1 2023-06-07, 07:23
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 08:50 authored by Karis Jade PettyKaris Jade Petty
The ‘sensory turn’ in anthropology has generated a significant literature on sensory perception and experience. Whilst much of this literature is critical of the compartmentalization of particular ‘senses’, there has been limited exploration of how anthropologists might examine sensory perception beyond ‘the senses’. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with people who have impaired vision walking the South Downs landscape in England, this article develops such an approach. It suggests that the experiences of seeing in blindness challenge the conceptualization of ‘vision’ (and ‘non-vision’). In place of ‘vision’ (as a sense), the article explores ‘activities of seeing’ – an approach that contextualizes the visual to examine the biographically constituted and idiosyncratic nature of perception within an environment. Through an ethnography of seeing with anatomical eyes and ‘seeing in the mind's eye’, it articulates an approach that avoids associating perception with anatomy, or compartmentalizing experience into ‘senses’.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

ISSN

1359-0987

Publisher

Wiley

Volume

0

Page range

1-18

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-07-01

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2021-04-12

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-06-29

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC