The body and the senses: Visual methods, videography and the submarine sensorium

Abstract Drawing on methodological approaches used by visual anthropologists, film theorists and debates prevalent in the cultural studies literature, this paper is interdisciplinary in approach and attempts to tackle the challenge of collecting and analyzing embodied, sensuous and pre-reflective ‘data ’ by advocating the value of integrating videography into research methodologies. The paper is illustrated with an examination of under-water videography footage, featuring scuba divers coming to terms with their surroundings. By considering the ways in which those featured in the film relate to the onscreen images, upon watching the footage, the paper explores how we might begin to study and represent the ‘unrepresentable ’ senses of, for example, touch and the somatic senses, including proprioception, in addition to the heightening or modification of these