Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Organization, 22 (2), 2015, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2015 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Organization page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/org on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethics and entangled embodiment
T2 - bodies-materialities-organization
AU - Dale, Karen
AU - Latham, Yvonne
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Organization, 22 (2), 2015, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2015 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Organization page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/org on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2015/3
Y1 - 2015/3
N2 - In this article, we are concerned with the ethical implications of the entanglement of embodiment and non-human materialities. We argue for an approach to embodiment which recognises its inextricable relationship with multiple materialities. From this, three ethical points are made: first, we argue for an ethical relation to ‘things’ not simply as inanimate objects but as the neglected Others of humanity’s (social and material) world. Second, there is a need to recognise different particularities within these entanglements. We draw on the work of Merleau-Ponty and Levinas to think through how the radical alterity of these Others can be acknowledged, whilst also recognising our intercorporeal intertwining with them. Third, we argue that recognition of this interconnectedness and entanglement is a necessary ethical and political position from which the drawing of boundaries and creation of separations that are inherent in social organising can be understood and which contribute to the denigration, discrimination and dismissal of particular forms of embodiment, including those of non-human Others. In order to explore the ethical implications of these entanglements, we draw upon fieldwork in a large UK-based not-for-profit organisation which seeks to provide support for disabled people through a diverse range of services. Examining entanglements in relation to the disabled body makes visible and problematises the multiple differences of embodiments and their various interrelationships with materiality.
AB - In this article, we are concerned with the ethical implications of the entanglement of embodiment and non-human materialities. We argue for an approach to embodiment which recognises its inextricable relationship with multiple materialities. From this, three ethical points are made: first, we argue for an ethical relation to ‘things’ not simply as inanimate objects but as the neglected Others of humanity’s (social and material) world. Second, there is a need to recognise different particularities within these entanglements. We draw on the work of Merleau-Ponty and Levinas to think through how the radical alterity of these Others can be acknowledged, whilst also recognising our intercorporeal intertwining with them. Third, we argue that recognition of this interconnectedness and entanglement is a necessary ethical and political position from which the drawing of boundaries and creation of separations that are inherent in social organising can be understood and which contribute to the denigration, discrimination and dismissal of particular forms of embodiment, including those of non-human Others. In order to explore the ethical implications of these entanglements, we draw upon fieldwork in a large UK-based not-for-profit organisation which seeks to provide support for disabled people through a diverse range of services. Examining entanglements in relation to the disabled body makes visible and problematises the multiple differences of embodiments and their various interrelationships with materiality.
KW - Disabilities
KW - embodiment
KW - entanglement
KW - ethics
KW - Levinas
KW - materialities
KW - Merleau-Ponty
U2 - 10.1177/1350508414558721
DO - 10.1177/1350508414558721
M3 - Journal article
VL - 22
SP - 166
EP - 182
JO - Organization
JF - Organization
SN - 1350-5084
IS - 2
ER -