Human skin delineates the outer appearance of the individual, separating the body from its surroundings. In cultural and literary discourse, the modern individual is defined by its demarcation of self and non-self. Contemporary philosophy and theories of mind, by contrast, have recently introduced the term “skin bag” to critique the confinement of humans to their body proper. They argue that the human mind, especially, extends naturally to include artificial technologies. While both positions may propagate different visions of human nature (and its future), they share a common misconception of the skin. Neither a boundary walling off the organism from its environments, nor an interface for technological appendices, the skin is a living, ecological host, enabling life by sustaining the life of other organisms, and weaving the individual into the collective.

In my lecture, I will discuss contemporary insights of microbiome research into the vulnerable surfaces of our bodies, how inside and outside become convoluted, and how the ecological conception of skin transforms dualist imaginaries of mind and body, nature and culture, individual and collective.