“Quem sabe, sobe”: um estudo antropológico sobre a suspensão corporal contemporânea

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the techniques of the contemporary body suspension process, to understand the notions of this body practice and the different perceptions of the same among practitioners. This is one of the techniques in the vast field of body modification - a concept used to define body modification procedures. The body suspension is a temporary modification, which consistsin the insertion of surgical steel hooks in certain areas of the body for lifting in the air, vertically or horizontally, using a rope system as a means of lifting. Thus, body representations are central to this study, since we seek to understand the motivations and meanings that voluntary change has for the participants. For that, I did an ethnography in suspended meetings and restricted events in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina and analyzed the narratives of the adepts, emphasizing the sensations at each stage of the intervention. And from the meeting with my interlocutors, I questioned this corporal practice, I interpreted the social group and the group in the society. I conclude that the contemporary suspension is a bodily manifestation that makes sense in relation to the group of symbols of this group and revolves around hedonism and good living practices.