“Fear is primarily an emotion ‘about the body – its fleshiness and precariousness’. In its most basic form of sudden fright, fear ensues from the activation of the amygdala – a primitive part of the brain that modulates vigilance and arousal levels towards external stimuli, mobilizing the defence mechanism in the body before potential danger is fully cognitively assessed. However, fear is not merely an evolutionary response to a presumed threat. It is also a mental and cultural construct in which manifests in the interface of body and mind, self and other, consciousness and non-conscious. Fear is felt within, through and across physical, mental and cultural layers, implicating the body both as the internal reservoir or anxieties and as the external referent of apprehension towards others.”
– Historian Joanna Bourke
thepatterpod.com 