The Body as Archive: Cultural Memory, Identity, and Psychisme

Abstract

The concept of the body as archive challenges conventional notions of memory as a purely cognitive or textual phenomenon by foregrounding how the body itself stores, transmits, and performs cultural memory, contributing to both individual and collective identities. This review synthesizes interdisciplinary research from anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, performance studies, and embodied cognition to explore how bodily practices, gestures, postures, and performative acts function as repositories of cultural knowledge and identity. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of habitus, body memory, and cultural memory, we argue that the body not only reflects but archives embodied history—shaping social norms, identities, and affective attachments across generations. We discuss concepts such as embodied memory, the repertoire versus archive distinction, somatic transmission, and the role of performance and ritual in cultural continuity. The review also examines how bodies enact cultural resistance, negotiate power, and embody trauma and collective experiences. By reconceptualizing memory as lived through embodied experience, psychisme is reimagined as a dynamic interface between cultural inscription and bodily agency. This integrative perspective offers insights into identity formation, cultural resilience, and the politics of remembering and forgetting in diverse sociocultural contexts.