Sensing ethnic difference: A kinesthetic reading of Proverbs 7.1-27

Abstract

The historical identity of the נכריה‎/אשה זרה‎ in Proverbs 7 has been a vexing quandary in modern biblical scholarship. Although many proposals have been offered, there is, as of yet, no critical consensus. My aim is not to settle the matter once and for all, but to approach the problem from a different angle. This article offers a fresh reading of Proverbs 7.1-27 in order to shift attention away from who the Foreign Woman might be historically to how her foreignness is constructed ideologically. Specifically, the argument draws on kinesthetic theory to reexamine the pedagogical use of sensory data to enhance persuasion. As we shall see, the father deploys a visceral narrative that transmits the ethnicized and gendered otherness of the Foreign Woman in sensory fashion (e.g. aural, gustative, tactile, visual, olfactory). This pedagogical tactic functions as a strategic form of kinesthetic empathy that subconsciously inscribes social and religious boundary markers in the sensorium. In this way, the father’s instruction encodes an ethnic sensory that is neurologically wired, so to speak, to perceive Lady Wisdom as more appealing than the seductions of the Foreign Woman. By drawing attention to the didactic strategy of shaping wisdom in the sensorium, this kinesthetic reading highlights the critical role of sensory perception in mediating ideologies of difference.