"Identifying Pleasure: a Diary-Approach to the Embodied Subjectivity of Students' Daily Life in Albania"

The present study examines the embodied feelings of daily-life among a sample of Albanian college students. The specific methodology of 'body-diaries' used for such a purpose goes beyond a mere experimental writing, it fosters a creative and (un)comfortable way for making sense of bodies as subjects. Sharing intimacy and co-constructing pleasure and pain takes place in the unpopular, pre-web 2.0, textual format of a diary, lacking of the contemporary usual online audience. The innovative aspect, here, is the explicit focus on putting one's body into words in daily-life. Such a methodology stems from embodiment and critical sexuality studies and follows the idea that symbolic realms and abstraction are always already materially located and speaking. The complex relationships between language and body is elaborated with respect to systemic and individual communication strategies. How do we come to terms with sensations of pleasure in our everyday routine? How do students approach themselves and others when explicitly asked to focus on bodily issues in a rapidly changing society like Albania? A a particular emphasis will be given, then, to the ongoing transformations between public and private spheres and related affective reconfigurations.