About the Journal

The Journal of Somaesthetics is a peer-reviewed, online, academic research journal devoted to research that advances the interdisciplinary field of somaesthetics, understood as the critical study and meliorative cultivation of the experience and performance of the living body (or soma) as a site of sensory appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-stylization

The Journal of Somaesthetics figures in the Danish BFI (Bibliometric Research Indicator) list as a level one journal.  The Journal of Somaesthetics is Elsevier Scopus indexed.

The Journal of Somaesthetics  is funded by:

Announcements

Call for Papers: Queering the Soma

18-08-2023

According to Richard Shusterman, “the body is both shaped by power and employed as an instrument to maintain it—how bodily norms of health, skill, and beauty, and even our categories of sex and gender, are constructed to reflect and sustain social forces” (Shusterman 2020, 247). In this issue of the Journal of Somaesthetics, we consider somatic identities and behaviors that subvert somatic normativity, with a special focus on gender and sexuality. Although there has been somaesthetic work devoted to mostly heteronormative identities, behaviors, and histories, there has been little devoted to queer somaesthetics. Beginning with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s definition of queer as “the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, of anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can’t be made) to signify monolithically” (Sedgwick 1993, 8), this issue is dedicated to intersections between queerness and somaesthetics, broadly construed.

Read more about Call for Papers: Queering the Soma

Current Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2023)

Somaesthetics, the aesthetics of the living body, is a multi- and interdisciplinary field with a focus on sensory perception and cognition. Somaesthetics designates an interdisciplinary framework rather than a singular philosophical position. It deals, on the one hand, with the aesthetic experience of the body as a practice proper and, on the other hand, with the academic conceptualization of the experiencing and experienced body. It approaches the body as the mediating center of sensory experiences, cognitive realization and agency.

Somaesthetics describes an integrative field of research where aesthetic experiences meet theories about the body including its biological structures and functions, its phenomenological and epistemological functions, and its position and significances in culture and societies. It comprises investigations and reflections concerning the body and its personal, social, cultural and political underpinnings and significance. Pragmatism, phenomenology, Eastern philosophies, sociology, biology and neuroscience have, among others, provided insights into this domain. Of particular interest is the aesthetic experience, the creative practice and their transformative and ameliorative potentials. Aesthetic considerations go well beyond the arts including everyday life and its various domains. The aesthetics of the body has proved important in a variety of domains such as art and culture, many design practices, health care and health studies, technology, urban live, nature and environmental changes and many more.  

The volume 9 No.1 of the  Journal of Somaesthetics is a collection papers in various formats that are published continuously as they get accepted for publication.   

Published: 09-05-2023

Articles

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What is Somaesthetics? 

Somaesthetics does not specify a single approach but remains open to various investigations and reflections concerning the body and its personal, social, cultural, and political significance with a focus on sensory perception and cognition. Pragmatism, phenomenology, Eastern philosophies, sociology, biology, and neuroscience have, among others, provided insights into this domain.

Aesthetic considerations go well beyond the arts, including everyday life and its various domains. In addition to aesthetic activities and the resulting objects, particular interest is in the aesthetic experience and its elaboration. Critical and cultural analysis is applied to reveal the underlying issues of conventional embodied practices and related aesthetic ideals, and practical interventions are used to promote transformation.

In addition to philosophical and theoretical submissions, we welcome critical and in-depth analyses with an empirical, phenomenological, artistic, practical, or other relevant orientation. You can use theories, concepts, and methods from your field of study while considering a multidisciplinary readership.

Topics of somaesthetics can be related but not limited to the following:

  • Architecture and Urban Spaces
  • Arts and Design
  • Culture, History, and Religion
  • Education
  • Experience and Consciousness
  • Experience Design
  • Experience Economy
  • Health and Well-being
  • Leadership
  • Nature and Environment
  • Philosophy and Politics
  • Science and Scientific Methodologies
  • Sports and Fitness

The Journal of Somaesthetics published continuously accepted and peer-reviewed article and  collected issue structured on a particular theme or topic. The journal is supported by a distinguished multidisciplinary and international editorial board of advisors, 

The Journal of Somaesthetics is edited by Prof. Falk Heinrich (Denmark), Prof. Richard Shusterman (USA), Anne Tarvainen (Finland), Else-Marie Bukdhahl (Denmark), Prof. Stefan Valdemar Snævarr (Norway), Professor Dag Svanaes (Norway), Senior Lecturer Max Ryynänen (Finland), Prof. Arto Haapala (Finland), , Prof. Mie Buhl (Denmark), Associate Prof. Cumhur Erkut (Denmark), Associate Professor Sofia Dahl (Denmark, Sweden), Professor Kristina Höök (Sweden), Professor Palle Dahlstedt (Sweden), Associate Professor Yanping Gao (China), Professor Mathias Girel (France), Professor Leszek Koczanowicz (Poland), Associate Professor  Laura Schultz (Denmark)

 

Relevant Links

The Somaesthetics Google Group

The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture

Somaesthetics Wiktionary