310 research outputs found
The Body Dances: Carnival Dance and Organization
Building on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Maurice Merleau-Ponty we seek to open up traditional categories of thought surrounding the relation `body-organization' and elicit a thought experiment: What happens if we move the body from the periphery to the centre? We pass the interlocking theoretical concepts of object-body/subject-body and habitus through the theoretically constructed empirical case of `carnival dance' in order to re-evaluate such key organizational concepts as knowledge and learning. In doing so, we connect with an emerging body of literature on `sensible knowledge'; knowledge that is produced and preserved within bodily practices. The investigation of habitual appropriation in carnival dance also allows us to make links between repetition and experimentation, and reflect on the mechanism through which the principles of social organization, whilst internalized and experienced as natural, are embodied so that humans are capable of spontaneously generating an infinite array of appropriate actions. This perspective on social and organizational life, where change and permanence are intricately interwoven, contrasts sharply with the dominant view in organization studies which juxtaposes change/ creativity and stability
Feminist phenomenology and the woman in the running body
Modern phenomenology, with its roots in Husserlian philosophy, has been taken up and utilised in a myriad of ways within different disciplines, but until recently has remained relatively under-used within sports studies. A corpus of sociological-phenomenological work is now beginning to develop in this domain, alongside a longer standing literature in feminist phenomenology. These specific social-phenomenological forms explore the situatedness of lived-body experience within a particular social structure. After providing a brief overview of key strands of phenomenology, this article considers some of the ways in which sociological, and particularly feminist phenomenology, might be used to analyse female sporting embodiment. For illustrative purposes, data from an autophenomenographic project on female distance running are also included, in order briefly to demonstrate the application of phenomenology within sociology, as both theoretical framework and methodological approach
On the Usefulness of Modern Animism: Co-Creating Architecture with Soils as Ontopolitical Practice
In opposition to the general understanding of animism as an irrational religious set of beliefs, theâsecularâmodern animism embodied in this practice of built and grown architecture is operative. It conceives of placesâecosystemsâas beings with agency that we garden with to nurture and express their resilience. It is a useful ontology for ecological practice; this architectural animism is ontopolitical; it co-creates a common world. At a recent symposium, a number of projects were presented as architectural soils and to give a voice to these earthly beings, the method was to write a letter from them to me. This first letter with the response in this article forms the beginning of an animistic correspondence. The medium places the reader in a pluriverse, in between the multiple voices of various âactants.â The text is isomorphic to the embodied dialogue of this earthy practice. It is useful both to nurture societal awarenessâempathy and careâtowards these fragmentary ecosystemic beings, and as research method to conceive them, and our relationship
The digital mundane, social media and the military
This article draws on empirical data with British military personnel in order to investigate what we call the digital mundane in military life. We argue that social media and smartphone technologies within the military offer a unique environment in which to investigate the ways individualâs position themselves within certain axes of institutional and cultural identities. At the same time, the convolutions, mediatory practices, and mundane social media rituals that service personnel employ through their smartphones resonates widely with, for example, youth culture, digital mobile cultures. Together they suggest complex mediations with social and mobile media, that draws on, and extends non-military practice into new (and increasingly normative) terrains
Sporting embodiment: sports studies and the (continuing) promise of phenomenology
Whilst in recent years sports studies have addressed the calls âto bring the body back inâ to theorisations of sport and physical activity, the âpromise of phenomenologyâ remains largely under-realised with regard to sporting embodiment. Relatively few accounts are grounded in the âfleshâ of the lived sporting body, and phenomenology offers a powerful framework for such analysis. A wide-ranging, multi-stranded, and interpretatively contested perspective, phenomenology in general has been taken up and utilised in very different ways within different disciplinary fields. The purpose of this article is to consider some selected phenomenological threads, key qualities of the phenomenological method, and the potential for existentialist phenomenology in particular to contribute fresh perspectives to the sociological study of embodiment in sport and exercise. It offers one way to convey the âessencesâ, corporeal immediacy and textured sensuosity of the lived sporting body. The use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is also critically addressed.
Key words: phenomenology; existentialist phenomenology; interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); sporting embodiment; the lived-body; Merleau-Pont
Movement, Memory and Mathematics: Henri Bergson and the Ontology of Learning
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Using the work of philosopher Henri Bergson (1859â1941) to examine the nature of movement and memory, this article contributes to recent research on the role of the body in learning mathematics. Our aim in this paper is to introduce the ideas of Bergson and to show how these ideas shed light on mathematics classroom activity. Bergsonâs monist philosophy provides a framework for understanding the materiality of both bodies and mathematical concepts. We discuss two case studies of classrooms to show how the mathematical concepts of number and function are themselves mobile and full of potentiality, open to deformation and the remapping of the (im)possible. Bergson helps us look differently at mathematical activity in the classroom, not as a closed set of distinct interacting bodies groping after abstract concepts, but as a dynamic relational assemblage
Embodying prison pain: womenâs experiences of self-injury in prison and the emotions of punishment
This paper explores the meanings and motivations of self-injury practices as disclosed in interviews with a small group of female former prisoners in England. In considering their testimonies through a feminist perspective, I seek to illuminate aspects of their experiences of imprisonment that go beyond the âpains of imprisonmentâ literature. Specifically, I examine their accounts of self-injury with a focus on the embodied aspects of their experiences. In so doing, I highlight the materiality of the emotional harms of their prison experiences. I suggest that the pains of imprisonment are still very much inscribed on and expressed through the prisonerâs body. This paper advances a more theoretically situated, interdisciplinary critique of punishment drawn from medical-sociological, phenomenological and feminist scholarship
Nigellissima: A Study of Glamour, Performativity and Embodiment
This is a study of glamour, its complexities and its relationship with and role within celebrity culture. We explore glamour in the context of Nigella, the London-born TV cook, food writer and self-proclaimed âdomestic goddessâ of British culinary culture. In our study we consider the interconnections between glamour, specifically Italian-style retro-glamour, and performativity in Nigellaâs career. We also address the role of embodiment and authenticity in the masquerade of femininity. Our analysis focuses on Nigellaâs glamour over time, considering its creation, enactment and reaffirmation following scandal. We conclude by speculating on glamourâs complex and ambivalent relationship with celebrity culture, and the role of vulnerability in creating authentic and enduring glamour in contemporary consumer society
Co-production: towards a utopian approach
This article outlines how co-production might be understood as a utopian method, which both attends to and works against dominant inequalities. It suggests that it might be positioned âwithin, against, and beyondâ current configurations of power in academia and society more broadly. It develops this argument by drawing on recent research funded through the UKâs Connected Communities programme, led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; and by attending to arguments from the field of Utopian Studies. It explores particular issues of power and control within the field of co-production, acknowledging that neoliberalism both constrains and co-opts such practice; and explores methodological and infrastructural issues such that its utopian potential might be realised
- âŠ