ABSTRACT
The body is a canvas, both physical and abstract, that is used to demonstrate who we are, where we belong and how we are taking a stand in the world. In this chapter, we deal with issues surrounding bodily resistances. We begin with the tensions inherent in acts of rebellion and resistance, and the desire for particular kinds of social belonging. Tensions are created via bodily rebellions at both the individual and social level, simultaneously creating difference and distance, as well as acceptance and inclusion. Tattoos, scarification, and circumcision are among the bodily practices that individuals use to signify something about themselves; so too are the ways we wear our hair, cover our bodies (or not), perfume ourselves, and otherwise decorate and manipulate our corporeal selves. In some instances, where an individual refuses to undergo a particular practice (female circumcision, for instance), the social risks are high even though the practice may increase other bodily risks. With each of the particular ways that individuals make these flexible, artistic, sometimes desperate statements about who they are, different constellations of bodily strengths and weaknesses are created that have both social and health implications. Identities are not constructed in isolation. They emerge in social networks that shape their way of being in the world in relation to each other, and to the institutions that they encounter.
