Paper short abstract:

I turn to the kidnapping of my Iraqi friend Jabar in 2009 to recount the moments of inability of those close to him to maintain their poise during the week long ordeal. Such moments point not only to some form of ethical and experiential intercoporeality, but also, more proximally, the exposedness and tremulousness of bodily-being itself.

Paper long abstract:

Bodily posture and poise has a remarkably ethical dimension to it: one might talk of being 'upright' morally or refer to someone as a 'stand-up' person. But what of the ethics, morality and experiences of when persons are no longer able to hold themselves upright in moments of trauma, fear or doubt? In this talk I turn to the kidnapping of my friend Jabar, which took place in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 2009, to recount the moments of inability of those close to him to maintain their poise on hearing the news of his kidnapping, and also on seeing him after his being released. Such moments of breakdown and trembling point not only to some form of ethical and experiential intercoporeality, but also, more proximally, the exposedness and tremulousness of bodily-being itself.