The body as an alternative : space for utopia

Abstract

This paper questions whether the body can be seen as a sacred space, and if so, whether the body as a sacred space can be considered as an alternative space for utopia. Throughout this essay, I approach phenomenology in order to conceptualise the spatiality of the body. I then move on to discuss whether this spatiality can take on the sacred: firstly, by identifying what is meant by “sacred”, and, secondly, through the work of the religious historian Mircea Eliade, wherein he discusses religious phenomena, the believer’s experience, and the sacred. I explore the work of Mary Douglas, who provides insight on the body as a symbol as well as on the rituals surrounding the corporeal body. Once the body’s spatiality is established as being able to take on the dimension of the sacred, I then shift attention towards the idea of utopia, examining this through Vincent Geoghenhan’s work, arguing that if the body’s spatiality may take on the sacred, then it will also have utopian traces rooted in ideology. I conclude by answering my initial question of whether the body, or bodily symbolism, can manifest or mirror utopian ideals.