A medical anthropological research on algo-politics and anthropo-poietical uses of pain in contemporary Europe

Pain can’t be limited to biology. The anthropological signification of an experience shapes the way we look at wounds or medicaments, how it’s appropriate to embody, communicate or generally behave in determinate conditions. In a phenomenological perspective, social meanings mold the experience of pain(s), “Learning to Fly” is a recently concluded ethnography on the exploration of meanings of body suspensions in contemporary Europe, a practice consisting in hang up a protagonist through metal hooks temporary inserted in the skin. The exposition to pain generally shocks outsiders. Through an anthropological analysis, the research shows that alternative interpretations of voluntary forms of pain are (re)produced to manage chronic conditions, such fibromyalgia, drug addictions, self-destructive behaviors, endometriosis, and lower-back pains. The management passes by voluntary sufferance: pain becomes a positive identity-ingredient, part of anthropo-poietical projects [1] aiming to construct human being characterized by originality and authenticity. The algofobia [2] is challenged, generating delegitimizations and accuses of mental disorder. Qualitative data highlights that pain is a mandatory gate of suspension, inducing altered states of consciousness and providing for self-regeneration. Through the manipulation of perceptual abilities, practitioners intervene on who they are, who they want to become, and pain-meanings drive the interpretation of painful experiences. Through a multi-sited participant observations and qualitative semi-structured interviews, the research highlights that: suspensions are interventional strategies of pain management; pain is a symptom but also a means strategically operated by chronic sufferance; pain can be inserted in life-long projects of self-enhancement beside health vulnerabilities; un- mainstreaming interpretations can be socially (re)produced in accordance with mainstream values.