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  bibliometric research systems of various European countries.  The Journal of Somaesthetics is Elsevier Scopus, +Kanalregistret, and DOAJ indexed.

The Journal of Somaesthetics  is funded by:

  • Independent Research Fund Denmark, DFF (2019-2026)

Announcements

In Memoriam Announcement for Else Marie Bukdahl

25-08-2026

The Society for Somaesthetics and its Journal of Somaesthetics mourn the death of Else Marie Bukdahl (1937-2026) while paying grateful tribute to her exemplary life and the important contributions she made to art and culture, including her central role in the field of somaesthetics. Professor Bukdahl was one of the three founding editors of The Journal of Somaesthetics, which was first conceived, named, and introduced to the internet in July 2013 from her seaside cabin on the dunes of Vesterklit, North Jutland, by the North Sea. In that same cabin she collapsed from a stroke and died in the hospital shortly thereafter on July 14th, 2026.

Read more about In Memoriam Announcement for Else Marie Bukdahl

Current Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Somaesthetics of Noise
View Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Somaesthetics of Noise

Somaesthetics of noise recognizes noise as a somatic phenomenon that extends beyond the auditory, affecting us in most realms of experience. Noise is heard, and it is also felt through vibration, pressure, irritation, disturbance, interruption, fatigue, excitement, and sometimes pleasure. It can unsettle attention, reorganize bodily orientation, thicken atmosphere, and expose the limits of perception. For the most part, noise has been a largely unexplored source for somaesthetic inquiry. If somaesthetics examines the soma as a medium of sensory appreciation, self-cultivation, communication, and world-disclosure, then noise directs our attention to those moments when embodied experience becomes excessive, difficult, unruly, or resistant to immediate assimilation.
The essays and interviews gathered in this volume approach noise in an expansive somaesthetic sense. Some focus on explicitly sonic practices, including experimental music, noise performance, and sound poetry. Others extend noise beyond the auditory, considering restlessness, bodily interference, atmospheric disruption, and the governance of embodied presence. In all these contributions, noise is what urges renewed attention to the conditions through which meaning, sensation, and social order are formed. Noise can overwhelm and disrupt, but it can also attune and help us refocus. It can produce discomfort, but discomfort often stimulates inquiry. It can be treated as disorder by institutions, but it can also become a resource for resistance, self-stylization, and shared experience.

Published: 18-06-2026

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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