Articles and essays by Lotta Kähkönen
Kirjallisuuden ja musiikiin leikkauspintoja, 2018
![Research paper thumbnail of Kehollinen kokemus, muutos ja sukupuolen moninaisuus [Embodied experience, transformation and gender variance]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57415744/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Kokemuksen tutkimus VI: kokemuksen käsite ja käyttö. Toim. Jarkko Toikkanen ja Ira A. Virtanen, 2018
In this article, I apply the concept of embodied experience in an analysis of two autobiographica... more In this article, I apply the concept of embodied experience in an analysis of two autobiographical texts written by transartists. The concept of embodied experience draws from multidisciplinary discussions on embodied cognition, gendering of bodies, and experience in knowledge production. The theory of embodied cognition sees mind as dependent of body’s various capacities to sense and interact with its environment and process information. The theoretical approach rooted in the idea of embodied cognition aims to extend the concept of experience by considering non-conscious aspects of experience.
The field of Transgender Studies stresses the importance of lived experiences of transpeople in knowledge production, and the variety and complexity of how gender is experienced. Central concepts used in the field are for example embodiment, body and gender, but the concept of experience has not been theorized enough. I argue that the concept of embodied cognition offers new perspectives to analysis of stories that reflect on embodiment, lived experience and prolonged, processes of transformation. Transformations are always complex, and any inquiry should avoid exhaustive answers. Yet, to understand the complexity of human experience better, we should draw more attention to how embodied cognition and its non-conscious processes participate in constructing our experiences.
Understanding stories as embodied, I examine the depiction of embodied experiences in two autobiographical texts, focusing in particular on how the interaction between embodiment and environment participate in constructing each other. The narratives construct the relation to embodiment in different ways and draw attention to embodied experience. Both of the examined stories include moments of enhanced consciousness of the author’s own experience. These moments are addressed as important turning points in finding a new direction to life and existence. Reflection on these moments gives information about the experiental dimension of consciousness, and unfold possibilities to understand more about constantly changing embodied experience.
A number of recent studies on trans cultural and artistic practices – practices used to represent... more A number of recent studies on trans cultural and artistic practices – practices used to represent transgender identities, perspectives or experiences – have used the term “trans poetics”. This dialogue essay explores the implications of trans poetics for contemporary literary, artistic, and scholarly practices. We approach trans poetics as a set of questions dealing with the dynamic relations between experience of embodiment, creation, writing and conceptualization.
Blog entry on Valto Kuuluvainen's monologue theatre performance in "Transforces on stage" -festival.
SQS (Journal for Queer Studies in Finland), Dec 2014
North American Studies Crossroads. Ed. by Rani-Henrik Andersson & Saara Kekki., May 2014
Death in Literature. Ed. by Sari Kivistö and Outi Hakola. Cambridge Scholars Publishing., 2014
Säännelyt vapaudet taiteessa ja kulttuurissa edited by Marianne Liljeström & Marko Gylén. Utukirjat., 2014
Väkevä. Feministinen aikakausilehti., 2013
Journalismikritiikin vuosikirja., 2013
Erot ja etiikka feministisessä tutkimuksessa [Differences and Ethics in Feminist Criticism]. Ed. by Kirsti Lempiäinen, Taru Leppänen & Susanna Paasonen. Utukirjat., 2012
Naistutkimuslehti., Dec 2012
Muistijälkiä. Esseitä saksankielisestä nykykirjallisuudesta edited by Lotta Kähkönen & Hanna Meretoja. Avain, BTJ Finland., 2010
Muistijälkiä. Esseitä saksankielisestä nykykirjallisuudesta edited by Lotta Kähkönen & Hanna Meretoja. Avain, BTJ Finland. , 2010
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Articles and essays by Lotta Kähkönen
The field of Transgender Studies stresses the importance of lived experiences of transpeople in knowledge production, and the variety and complexity of how gender is experienced. Central concepts used in the field are for example embodiment, body and gender, but the concept of experience has not been theorized enough. I argue that the concept of embodied cognition offers new perspectives to analysis of stories that reflect on embodiment, lived experience and prolonged, processes of transformation. Transformations are always complex, and any inquiry should avoid exhaustive answers. Yet, to understand the complexity of human experience better, we should draw more attention to how embodied cognition and its non-conscious processes participate in constructing our experiences.
Understanding stories as embodied, I examine the depiction of embodied experiences in two autobiographical texts, focusing in particular on how the interaction between embodiment and environment participate in constructing each other. The narratives construct the relation to embodiment in different ways and draw attention to embodied experience. Both of the examined stories include moments of enhanced consciousness of the author’s own experience. These moments are addressed as important turning points in finding a new direction to life and existence. Reflection on these moments gives information about the experiental dimension of consciousness, and unfold possibilities to understand more about constantly changing embodied experience.
The field of Transgender Studies stresses the importance of lived experiences of transpeople in knowledge production, and the variety and complexity of how gender is experienced. Central concepts used in the field are for example embodiment, body and gender, but the concept of experience has not been theorized enough. I argue that the concept of embodied cognition offers new perspectives to analysis of stories that reflect on embodiment, lived experience and prolonged, processes of transformation. Transformations are always complex, and any inquiry should avoid exhaustive answers. Yet, to understand the complexity of human experience better, we should draw more attention to how embodied cognition and its non-conscious processes participate in constructing our experiences.
Understanding stories as embodied, I examine the depiction of embodied experiences in two autobiographical texts, focusing in particular on how the interaction between embodiment and environment participate in constructing each other. The narratives construct the relation to embodiment in different ways and draw attention to embodied experience. Both of the examined stories include moments of enhanced consciousness of the author’s own experience. These moments are addressed as important turning points in finding a new direction to life and existence. Reflection on these moments gives information about the experiental dimension of consciousness, and unfold possibilities to understand more about constantly changing embodied experience.