Body Mapping
Body mapping is an arts-based, participatory method in which people draw life-size or templated outlines of their own bodies and fill them with images, symbols, colors, and words that externalize embodied experience — illness, pain, identity, trauma, or healing. The body becomes a canvas on which interior states that are hard to put into words are made visible and shareable. The resulting body map is analyzed not as a picture alone but as a visual narrative, read together with the story the participant tells about it.
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Method map
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Sources
- Bernard, H. R. (2017). Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (6th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 9780759112421
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Body Mapping as Arts-Based Visual Narrative Method. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/anthropology/body-mapping
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Anthropological Household SurveyAnthropology↔ compare
- Behavioral Observation CodingAnthropology↔ compare
- Participatory MappingAnthropology↔ compare
- Time Allocation StudyAnthropology↔ compare