Multimodality Talks Series: A Phenomenology of Multimodal Communication: Theorizing Identity through Sensorial Multimodality

Date:  April 8, 2022

Time: 3:00-4:30pm BST

Place: online

Speaker: Professor Sachi Sekimoto, Minnesota State University, USA

To attend the talk please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/multimodality-talks-series-sachi-sekimoto-tickets-247149670317

Link to the recording: https://universityofleeds.zoom.us/rec/share/UnUYymU5GccVwpUZyDDyN4L2IVo1BNyf3AhPWdN_lg_5RRCr93mwUUuqRX2WZEGF.lfvBNioTCAnIieQX

About this event

Abstract:

This talk elaborates on the notion of sensorial multimodality by foregrounding the sensorial dimensions of multimodal communication. Situating the body as an active and open field of experience, sensorial multimodality pays attention to phenomenological dimensions of multimodal communication that constitutes lived and embodied subjectivity. I argue that the feeling, sensing body plays a significant role in organizing communicative resources and enacting and cohering a subject that communicates. Focusing on how lived bodies coordinate their rhythmic communicative enactments with others, I use the notion of entrainment as an example of sensorial multimodality to highlight how the modality of communication is entangled with sensorial awareness and bodily participation. An example of traditional Japanese femininity as a form of embodied entrainment grounded in the proprioceptive knowledge is presented to seek insights into the role of rhythmic bodies in constituting gendered subjectivity. I conclude by addressing the implications of entrained cultural bodies in theorizing cultural identity.

Bio:

Sachi Sekimoto, PhD. is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Communication Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato. As a native of Tokyo, Japan, who resides in the U.S., her scholarship is inspired by the experiences of traversing and adapting to multiple sensory borders and cultural paradigms. Her scholarly interests include phenomenological and sensory experiences of culture, identity, and embodiment. She has written various articles and book chapters on issues related to the embodied politics of transnational identity, the phenomenology of racialized and gendered embodiment, and intercultural communication in global contexts. She is a co-author of Race and the Senses: The Felt Politics of Racial Embodiment (Routledge, 2020) and Globalizing Intercultural Communication: A Reader (Sage, 2016).

You’ll receive the link to join the meeting upon registration.