A Sufism-Inspired Model for Embodied Interaction Design

Abstract

This paper presents a concise overview of argumentations about the body and the concept of embodiment in the field of technology by also referencing to the similar debates in philosophy, critical theory and social studies. In view of the observation that advances in technology call for a redefinition of embodiment, and in many different fields of life embodied approaches are increasingly looked for, it briefly revisits Modernity's ideal of disembodiment, which for those of us who live in modem societies, still dominates our approach to life and our understanding of existence, and as a corollary, our daily interactions with technologies as well. Then drawing from Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, and from a phenomenological interpretation of its approach to human body, the authors finally propose a four-layer understanding of embodiment as a model to be implemented in embodied interaction design.