Between My Body and My "Dead Body": Narratives of Coma.

People who have been in comas describe their corporeal experiences in ways that challenge conventional boundaries of the body. Based on narrative research with seventeen participants from Israel who had experienced various coma states, three types of narrative protagonists emerged: "dead-alive," "rational," and "emissaries." Participants redefined bodily boundaries, particularly when recounting experiences they did not understand as corporeal, such as out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, or being between the earthly and unearthly. Their difficulty finding words to convey these stories highlights the gap between experiencing and telling, crossing the medical establishment's normative discourse and revealing the ambiguous nature of human existence.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article is based on narrative research that focuses on corporeal experience during coma and during the rehabilitation process. Seventeen participants from different areas of Israel who had been in various kinds of coma states reveal what the corporeal experience of coma is. The participants are divided into three types of narrative protagonists--"dead-alive," "rational," and "emissaries." Each of the participants redefined the boundaries of the body, especially in cases when they spoke of experiences they did not understand as corporeal, for example, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, or experiences of being between the earthly and unearthly. Their struggle to find suitable words to tell their coma stories emphasizes these boundaries between experiencing and telling, which crossed the normative discursive border of the medical establishment and illustrates the ambiguous nature of human existence.