The Emergence of a Rhizomatic Mode of Consciousness through Body Movement: Ethnography of Taijiquan Martial Artists

Abstract

Taijiquan is a Chinese martial art currently passed on in its various forms worldwide. The following text draws a map of bodies, places, and entities that compose the act of becoming a Taijiquan practitioner in the Czech Republic. The purpose of this study is to create a space for a discussion between the research of martial arts and the anthropology of consciousness by illustrating the transformations of consciousness that originate in years or decades of rigorous martial art practice. This focus contrasts traditional anthropology of consciousness subjects as there is no significant immediate shift of consciousness from “ordinary” to “extraordinary” states—a result of the different rhythm and tempo of practicing Taijiquan. The theoretical framework that allows this discussion is inspired by Deleuze and Guattari's cosmology, which proves useful for understanding those longitudinal changes in consciousness. Their conceptions of the arborescent and rhizomatic provide a tool to illustrate consciousness as an ever-changing map, never stabilized in a normal conserved state as it outlines how the dissolution of borders of consciousness (deterritorialization) should always be observed complementarily with their tightening (reterritorialization).