“I Feel That He Is Korean”: Discursive and Embodied Forms of Knowledge in Ethnicity Research (A Cognitive Approach)

Abstract

The constructivist paradigm, which views ethnicity primarily as a result of discursive practices and mental classifications, currently dominates the sociology of ethnicity. However, this logocentric approach often neglects the bodily and affective dimensions of ethnic experience. This article aims to bridge this gap by adopting the perspective of embodied cognition and 4E cognitive science. The theoretical framework of the study relies on a synthesis of cognitive sociology and phenomenology. The empirical basis includes qualitative data (in-depth interviews) collected among members of the Koryo-saram/Korean ethnic category in Uzbekistan. The analysis focuses on the sensorimotor and perceptual mechanisms involved in recognizing “one’s own” and “others”. The study reveals that ethnic categorization often occurs at a pre-reflective level. Three key dimensions of embodied ethnicity are identified: 1) the “ethnic radar” phenomenon — an intuitive, visceral recognition of group members prior to verbal interaction; 2) gastronomic practices, where taste and bodily reactions to food serve as community boundary markers; 3) linguistic habitus, where the perception of audio proves more significant than semantic knowledge of the language. The author concludes that ethnicity should be conceptualized not merely as a category of consciousness, but as a bodily skill and a form of perceptual learning. Applying the optics of embodied cognition allows for rethinking ethnicity as “embodied history” rooted in the subject’s sensorimotor experience, opening new perspectives for microsociological analysis.