Tactile Anthropology: An Introduction

Topolski proposes to set up the research field of tactile anthropology to explore the broadly understood sense of touch. First he outlines the biological functions of touch, the meanings attributed to it in Western culture, and the definitional complexity of this sense. In the following sections, he describes the goals and guidelines of tactile anthropology, locating this research field in anthropology of the senses. Then he discusses the following issues: closeness in the socio-cultural and academic context, the politics of the sense of touch combined with the concept of tact and skinship, which allows to think about non-human dimension of skin.