Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (44.2011)

or not completely understood at a conscious level.
This laver is distinct from, but related to, the ways
in which a culture represents itself symbolically at
a more conscious levelA The semantic load of the
word "condition" is, however, perhaps too narrow to
identify this layer: it carries too large an implication
of something that might be identihed unambiguously
and hence isolated. Rather than speak of "uncon-
scious condihons", we could say that this is a stratum
at which unconscious affective processes of signifi-
cation are given shape — "affective" precisely because
these are processes of meaning that cannot be made
accessible in a straightforwardly discursive fashion.
From the perspective of historical anthropology, we
might more properly use some such term as "affec-
tive pattern". " An "affective pattern" is primordially
situated at an experiential level: it is given shape by
the affect-laden psychocorporeality experienced. The
expressive form it takes, its appearance, can be un-
derstood m both culture-specihc and cross-cultural
fashion, synchronically and diachronicallyA
Historical anthropology can only gain access to
this hard-to-discern basal layer of cultural meaning
as follows: affective patterns can only be "read"
in how something is loaded with connota-
tions, in fantasmatic constructions, in the parsing of
basal experiential structures and registers (including
the sensorium). They form the kaleidoscopic basal
layer from which cultural expressions crystallize.
This by no means entails a linear, straightforward
relationship: the cultural expression is in our view
not to be conceived as a direct translation of this
"submerged" stratum; the relationship between
them can best be understood as a "resonance" or
an "interference".
To return from this methodological blueprint to
our spécifie research: an anthropological approach

^ CSORDAS, T.: Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology.
In: EPw, 18,1990, No. 1, pp. 5-47; CSORDAS, T.: Introduc-
tion: the Body as Representation and Being-in-the-World. In:
CSORDAS, T. (ed.):E^í)y^^^ď^Expřw%rč'.
Gr-MvA cf ČAAn? Vpi Cambridge 1994, pp. 1-26.
This is a term posited by Paul Vandenbroeck; see YAN-
DENBROECK 2009 (see in note 8).
VANDENBROECK, P: IY AygřtÁ* Awr /yvwř
M tnAAkr (ČRAwy of /A HA/ A

can here mean that we look for the affective pat-
terns from which the motif of the Haemorrhoissa
is articulated. A hrst unravelling of éléments and
dimensions open to anthropological understand-
ing was undertaken on the basis of the motif in its
narrative form (Mark 5.24b-ß4) and Contemporary
exegetical interprétations." This brought out that
affective patterns of potentiality- the hard-to-grasp
precondition for a transformational process — form
the opaque undertone of the motif.
What route did we take with anthropological eyes
in order to penetrate to this undertone or deeper
layer? We will review briehy how the surface narrative
layer of the New Testament motif is articulated (see
above): the Haemorrhoissa has been suffering from
an issue of blood for twelve years when she hears
that Jesus is in the area. She décidés to join the crowd
around Him, and approaches Flim from behind. She
touches Him on the assumption that even passing
contact with his clothing will heal her. The healing
does indeed take place in the tiny moment of touch:
a power (t/yM/Ar) Hows from Jesus in an unintended
fashion, and the Haemorrhoissa's How dries up.
The touch is at the epicentre of the motif. It is
precisely by unpacking this touch, which is not one-
dimensional but Condensed and compressed, that we
were able to trace how the motif crystallizes from
affective patterns that take us "beyond" the motif
to its cultural résonances and matrix. Or again: the
touclW médiates within the motif various affective
patterns of potentiality.
In a Jewish context, the Haemorrhoissa can be
understood as a ypA?, a woman with disordered
menstrual bleeding. This can be based on the lin-
guistic agreement between the description of the
Haemorrhoissa's issue of blood in the Gospels and
the description of menstruation in the Septuagint. In
Ghent 1997; VANDENBROECK,
P.: HytTA?.' /Art AiArAnv. Ghent 2000; VANDEN-
BROECK 2009 (see in note 8).
^ SIDGWICK, E.: Tuctility and PotentiaRty in the Motif of the
Haemorrhoissa (Mk 5:24b-34parr): Cultural-Anthropological
Investigations. In: vDtwA A YAvHA-wp 200P,
2011, pp. 135-159.
^ Albeit in different guises.

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