Materializing: Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Materializing : Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles. / Andelsman Alvarez, Victoria.

In: MedieKultur, Vol. 37, No. 71, 2021, p. 54-72.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Andelsman Alvarez, V 2021, 'Materializing: Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles.', MedieKultur, vol. 37, no. 71, pp. 54-72. https://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621

APA

Andelsman Alvarez, V. (2021). Materializing: Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles. MedieKultur, 37(71), 54-72. https://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621

Vancouver

Andelsman Alvarez V. Materializing: Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles. MedieKultur. 2021;37(71):54-72. https://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621

Author

Andelsman Alvarez, Victoria. / Materializing : Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles. In: MedieKultur. 2021 ; Vol. 37, No. 71. pp. 54-72.

Bibtex

@article{24a696a33fb1400097551d3cd51b7a25,
title = "Materializing: Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles.",
abstract = "The present article explores how cycles are brought into being through the practices and affordances involved in period-tracking with apps. Based on thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with period-tracking app users living in the Netherlands, it expands on literature discussing the relationship between embodiment, apps, and quantification. The contributions of this article are two-fold. Theoretically, it argues for the use of Karen Barad{\textquoteright}s notion of apparatus to understand how bodies are (re)configured in relation to self-tracking technologies (1998). Empirically, it exposes how bodies emerge in localized period-tracking practices, within material-semiotic arrangements that both resist and reproduce cultural ideals about menstruating bodies. Period-tracking with apps, this study finds, brings the body{\textquoteright}s interior processes into being in a “systematic” way, (re)configuring the cycle as either a series of phases or an interval with a certain (normative) duration. In all cases, periodtracking with apps becomes a means for users to access their internal body and to materialize the invisible processes of the cycle in ways that can be acted upon.",
author = "{Andelsman Alvarez}, Victoria",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621",
language = "English",
volume = "37",
pages = "54--72",
journal = "MedieKultur",
issn = "1901-9726",
publisher = "Statsbiblioteket",
number = "71",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Materializing

T2 - Period-tracking with apps and the (re)constitution of menstrual cycles.

AU - Andelsman Alvarez, Victoria

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The present article explores how cycles are brought into being through the practices and affordances involved in period-tracking with apps. Based on thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with period-tracking app users living in the Netherlands, it expands on literature discussing the relationship between embodiment, apps, and quantification. The contributions of this article are two-fold. Theoretically, it argues for the use of Karen Barad’s notion of apparatus to understand how bodies are (re)configured in relation to self-tracking technologies (1998). Empirically, it exposes how bodies emerge in localized period-tracking practices, within material-semiotic arrangements that both resist and reproduce cultural ideals about menstruating bodies. Period-tracking with apps, this study finds, brings the body’s interior processes into being in a “systematic” way, (re)configuring the cycle as either a series of phases or an interval with a certain (normative) duration. In all cases, periodtracking with apps becomes a means for users to access their internal body and to materialize the invisible processes of the cycle in ways that can be acted upon.

AB - The present article explores how cycles are brought into being through the practices and affordances involved in period-tracking with apps. Based on thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with period-tracking app users living in the Netherlands, it expands on literature discussing the relationship between embodiment, apps, and quantification. The contributions of this article are two-fold. Theoretically, it argues for the use of Karen Barad’s notion of apparatus to understand how bodies are (re)configured in relation to self-tracking technologies (1998). Empirically, it exposes how bodies emerge in localized period-tracking practices, within material-semiotic arrangements that both resist and reproduce cultural ideals about menstruating bodies. Period-tracking with apps, this study finds, brings the body’s interior processes into being in a “systematic” way, (re)configuring the cycle as either a series of phases or an interval with a certain (normative) duration. In all cases, periodtracking with apps becomes a means for users to access their internal body and to materialize the invisible processes of the cycle in ways that can be acted upon.

U2 - 10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621

DO - 10.7146/mediekultur.v37i71.122621

M3 - Journal article

VL - 37

SP - 54

EP - 72

JO - MedieKultur

JF - MedieKultur

SN - 1901-9726

IS - 71

ER -

ID: 300692752