[The communicating body--eating disorders and culture]

What is "culture" in eating disorders as culture-bound syndromes? The human body is a flesh-and-blood entity, but it also functions as a symbolic instrument. The body communicates about culture itself, about norms and boundaries. In this paper one central aspect in the phenomenology of eating disorders is emphasised: The subjective experience of lack of control and the sense of an overwhelming "chaos", both on the inner and outer level. On this basis rapid societal transitions are discussed as specific pathogenic factors. Sociocultural instability represents insecure conditions for construction of a healthy and stable identity. "The open body" is a relevant metaphor, with its dialectical relationship to the isolation and delimitation represented by eating disordered behaviour. With reference to history and geography the paper also discusses the pathoplasticity of eating disorders; how they change in time and space. Cultural analysis of eating disorders can contribute to a richer understanding of the complexity of the construction of meaning in these disorders, both across cultures and within our own cultural contexts.