Seminar in Feminist Continental Philosophy: Ann V. Murphy

Abstract

This paper is a feminist phenomenological analysis of the expectations that surround our capacity to express ourselves, how these capacities change in the context of illness. One symptom of Parkinson’s disease is the rigidification and paralysis of facial muscles, which can result in an expressionless or “masked” face (hypomimia). Through a feminist lens, and in reference to my experience caregiving for my mother, this chapter reads Merleau-Ponty’s account of expression in Phenomenology of Perception to develop a richer understanding of the effects of facial masking and Parkinsonian dementia on interpersonal and social dynamics. The medical and social consequences of Parkinsonian facial masking range from the medical misdiagnosis of depression to the misattribution of negative emotional states and motivations. Here, I explore the clinical consequences of these types of misrecognition. I also discuss the consequences of changes in expressive and communicative capacity for caregivers. In particular, I describe the way in which my mother's Parkinsonian dementia and facial masking made her vulnerable to gendered stereotypes that circulate in clinical settings. We navigated this vulnerability as she was diagnosed with an illness called “Lady Windermere syndrome,” which, as the name implies, presents as a particularly rich object for a feminist reading.

Ann V. Murphy is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico. She has longstanding research and teaching interests in theories of vulnerability and phenomenologies of illness and care. She is the author of Violence and the Philosophical Imaginary (SUNY, 2012) and co-editor, with Gail Weiss and Gayle Salamon, of 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology (Northwestern, 2020). Her second monograph, Interworlds: Phenomenologies of Care and Kin, which explores ethical issues in caregiving through the lens of phenomenology, is forthcoming with The Oxford Studies in Disability, Ethics, and Society book series.

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Lisa Folkmarson Käll, Fanny Söderbäck & Ina Hallström