Testimonies in Motion: For a New Epistemological and Methodological Horizon of Body Ethnography

This research project aims to address the diverse ways subjects experience and are marked by a mental disorder diagnosis, specifically bipolar disorder, challenging the exclusion of the body as a source of rational scientific knowledge. The primary goal is to explore how these experiences are inscribed in the subjects' bodily memory using innovative ethnographic mechanisms. The proposed methodology integrates anthropology, clinical psychology, and dance practice. Life history interviews will be conducted with diagnosed individuals in Quito, where testimonies will be verbalized and, crucially, explored through bodily movement and dance, functioning as a performance of their own experiences. This approach seeks to offer a comprehensive theoretical view on the human complexity that has been psychiatrically marked, benefiting affected individuals, Social Science students, and the community interested in alternative perspectives on mental health.<br/><br/><b>Goal</b>: <br/>To investigate the ways in which the subject is marked as an 'other body' through the exploration of various ethnographic mechanisms applied to the testimonies of individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder.<br/><br/><b>Research lines</b>: <br/>Health and interculturality