Healing of bodies as a contested colonial site in Mark

Abstract

This article aims to offer a postcolonial reading of Mark’s healing narratives, interpreting them not only as sites of resistance but also as narrative pedagogy. Focusing on Mark 5:1–20 and 7:24–30, it argues that the Gospel constructs the body as a contested colonial site where imperial power, social exclusion, and symbolic violence converge. Moving beyond dominant biomedical, symbolic, and Christological interpretations, the study demonstrates that healing scenes are narratively configured to train audiences to recognise and interpret imperial domination as inscribed on bodies and social relations. By attending closely to dialogue, naming, and narrative tension, the article shows that healing functions as a pedagogical practice that forms subaltern consciousness capable of discerning and negotiating imperial power. In this way, Mark’s Gospel emerges not only as a text of resistance but as a formative discourse that cultivates politically aware and responsive communities.
Contribution: This study contributes to Markan and postcolonial scholarship in three specific ways. Firstly, it advances beyond existing empire-critical readings by arguing that healing narratives function not only as symbolic resistance but as narrative pedagogy that forms interpretive consciousness. Secondly, it demonstrates through close exegetical analysis how specific narrative features – such as naming, dialogue, and boundary negotiation – operate didactically within the text. Thirdly, it reframes the Gospel of Mark as a formative discourse that equips subaltern communities not merely to endure imperial power but to recognise, interpret, and respond to it. In doing so, the study offers a more textually grounded and theoretically integrated account of healing as both political and pedagogical practice.