Taken from the SFU course outline. "COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS: This course will examine the scholarship on embodiment and its implications for the body as a site for knowledge and its relationship to contemplative education, specifically in the area of embodied ways of inquiry. Central to this course will be to look at embodiment from a philosophical perspective, a literary/poetic perspective and a visceral perspective rooted in movement, dance, walking and physicality in a variety of forms, and even our limitations. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between philosophies of the body and their relevance to us as researchers, educators, artists, and human beings. The mind-body dualism will be examined and its impact on how research is enacted, and how we enter the practice of teaching and reflect on our practice. The notion of "bodily attending" will be developed both for reflexivity, moving, writing, and pedagogy. This course will give opportunity to explore the various ways the body has been inscribed by political, social, and cultural factors. A major question will concern how an informed understanding of embodiment can have pragmatic influence on the way we experience knowledge and articulate knowledge and its importance for bodily mindfulness. The student will have opportunity to relate the notion of embodiment to his/her particular research and integrate performative, narrative and poetic writing to articulate knowledge, which is situated in bodily experience. The class will integrate galleries, performances, gardens, and the natural world as part of the cultural lens where we will explore issues of embodiment. This course will be take advantage of a variety of venues within the Lower Mainland connected to our collaborative embodied inquiry."
Dr. Celeste Snowber
The philosophy of the flesh
Celeste calls it the philosophy of the flesh. An attempt to reconnect us with the innate wisdom of our bodies. To get us out of our heads and the mental and into the sensory and physical. Celeste has got us moving again, out of the classroom and outside. We have had classes in the dance studio at the Woodward building, at Sun-Yat-Sen Chinese Garden, UBC Botanical Garden and the Museum of Anthropology. The texts that we have read have introduced us to Buddhist and feminist practices lived through the body. I have engaged in walking, sculpture and painting during the course.
A Mind Map for my Bodygraphy Inquiry
My body and how I think about it and live it are a complicated matter. The Embodiment class has given me a space to reconnect to my body and engage in greater acceptance of how my body is, right now, in this moment. I have come to realise I have placed many self-imposed limitations on my body due to the shame and the influence of the culture and society I live in. Like Alice in Wonderland, this has led me down a rabbit hole of contemplative inquiry that is really only just beginning in this course. I intend to continue my inquiry after the course has finished........