Knowing and doing emotions in times of crisis and radical change

Cet article emprunte de nouveaux chemins dans l’examen des connaissances et des pratiques émotionnelles dans l’histoire de la Chine. En prenant en considération cette double dimension, il explore d’une part l’intérêt marqué pour la sensibilité qui se manifeste au cours du xvie siècle et d’autre part les modalités de perception de la souffrance durant les longues décennies de la dramatique transition dynastique au début du xviie siècle. En accordant aussi une attention particulière à la notion de gestualité corporelle (les mouvements et les comportements à travers lesquels les émotions existent, sont exprimées et sont vécues), cette double approche permet de croiser différents textes, dont des sources littéraires, philosophiques et médicales. Portant un regard spécifique sur les sédimentations corporelles des émotions, je montre comment pendant la période observée (xvie-xviie siècles), les individus étaient d’abord attentifs aux processus physiques, et refusaient de suivre les schémas émotionnels venant du néoconfucianisme.Dealing with the overall question of how we can best approach emotion-knowledge (emotional knowledge) and emotion-practices (emotional practices) in Chinese history, this paper explores new paths to track. On both emotion-knowledge and emotion-practices in Chinese history, this paper explores new paths to track. Especially, the particular shift towards sensitivity in late 16th century, on the one hand, and on specific modes of suffering which were predominant during the long decades of the dramatic dynastic transition in early 17th century on the other hand.This double-sited approach in conjunction with a focus on notions of bodily gestures, movements and behavior through which emotions were “done”, e.g. expressed and lived through is a feasible way to moving at the crossroads of different texts including literary, philosophical and medical sources. With a strong focus on the corporeal sediments of the emotions, I show evidence that people at the time under observation (16th and 17th centuries) in particular were concerned with their bodily fabric, and they refused to be guided by the Neo-Confucian perceptions of emotions.Suggerendo nuovi percorsi di riflessione, quest’articolo esplora come approcciare le conoscenze e le pratiche emozionali nella storia cinese. Interroga al tempo stesso l’interesse alla sensibilità sviluppatosi durante il xvi secolo, ma anche la percezione della sofferenza durante i lunghi decenni della drammatica transizione dinastica all’inizio del xvii secolo. Questo doppio approccio, dando ampio spazio alla nozione di gestualità fisica (i movimenti e i comportamenti grazie ai quali le emozioni sono vissute e si esprimono), permette d’incrociare fonti diverse tra cui testi letterari, filosofici e medici. Attraverso l’attenzione alle sedimentazioni fisiche delle emozioni, mostro come durante il periodo storico analizzato (xvi secolo e xvii secolo) le persone erano preoccupate dalla loro dimensione fisica e rifiutavano di seguire la percezione delle emozioni suggerita dal neoconfucianesimo