Visible and invisible aspects of embodied reading

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a holistic theoretical understanding of reading. It provides an outline of reading as an embodied experience because, apart from being a mental activity, it is also a specific activity of the body. In particular, this paper adopts an ethnographic approach to carry out a detailed investigation of forms of reading activity in Greece. It identifies aspects of reading relating to books, the activity itself and the spaces in which it occurs, shifting attention to forms of reading that are often unnoticed or suppressed by established representations of the practice of reading in ev-eryday life. It also draws attention to the way in which readers find meaning through everyday reading practices in contrast or in line with the dominant discourse. The above findings reinforce the discus-sion of a wider signification of reading, at a time when the reading landscape is continually being en-riched with digital means, the traditional medium of books is expanding, and the concept of the reader is changing.