Reflection on the process and degrees of embodiment of lower and upper limb prostheses

International audienceFar from being a "simple" palliation of the amputated limb, the prosthesis is a complex object thatdeeply questions the boundaries of the body. The experience of amputation produces a rupture in thebody image as well as a global modification of the body structure and schema. All body balances,postures and habits are modified following the amputation of a limb. Faced with this brutalreconfiguration (loss of limb, stump healing, phantom pain sensations) and the irreversible trauma ofamputation, amputees must learn to rebuild themselves through the use of prosthetic devices, whichhave the double objective of rebalancing the body and making it functional again. This learning andacceptance of prosthetic devices in limb amputees is a long and singular process that raises manyquestions: how do amputees learn to use and live with a prosthesis? How do they manage toappropriate a material object that is foreign to the body, through various adjustment andaccommodation processes? How do they feel and incorporate it into their body image and schema?Do they succeed (or not) in embodying it and making it a "prosthesis" as such?Through the prisms of philosophical reflections, particularly phenomenological researches onamputation, and socio-anthropological approaches, the analysis of prosthetic experiences invites us togo beyond the notion of prosthesis as a “simple” object "added" to the body. From an apprehensionof the prosthesis as a "tool", to its perception as an "extension of the body", various processes anddegrees of embodiment of the prosthetic device are gradually emerging in people’s experiences withlower and upper limb amputations.By cross-analysing the discourse of amputees and observations from fieldwork, we will study theseprocesses and degrees of embodiment as they are experienced after amputation: in the short termduring the initial period in the rehabilitation centre, then in the medium and long terms whenamputees return home, to society and daily life. We will interrogate how the prosthesis needs to beconceived from and beyond its materiality