Teaching Notes & Schedule: Embodiment Theory

*Please note that week number designates due date for readings & assignments*

Week 1        Knowing One's Embodied Self

• Individual introductions. Do Walking Meditation.  Do Drop Down and bring up Kinesthetic Memory (these will be your notes toward writing it up). 
•  View Clothesline video.  Freeform discussion: What did you see/hear? In particular, how did people occupy, use, relate to their bodies?  What associations did you have to this film?   What kinds of (unspoken) questions and issues does this film raise?  i.e. What are the various ways we might talk about embodiment based on this film?

Clothesline By Roberta Cantow (Buffalo Rose Production 1981) 32 minutes    

http://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=307

" With verve and humor, this film shows the love/hate relationship that women have with the task of cleaning the family's clothes. As we see the clothes flapping in the wind and hear the voices - some proud, some angry, some wistful - we realize that doing laundry calls forth deep feelings about one's role in life. Some remember when their mothers and grandmothers tackled the same chores using washtubs and washboards, or even river streams. This engaging film pays homage to the commonality of women's experience. Most of Clotheslines was shot in New York City, Brooklyn and Queens."

 Week 2        Movement in Cultural Context

• Discuss readings (30 minutes).What is it to know something in movement?  How are non-verbal movement patterns ways of knowing?  i.e. Knowing something in movement means that non-verbal patterns have meaning --including associations-- in context. Complete a Freewrite about the discussion (5 minutes).
• Read aloud Kinesthetic Autobiographies. First, see Listening to Kinesthetic Memories,  and do a brief Drop Down in preparation for listening.

Due:

• Write up of Kinesthetic Memory (2 pages) due; be prepared to read aloud.
• Write up response to readings (See syllabus for instructions).

 Sklar, Deidre. “Can Bodylore be Brought to its Senses?”  Journal of American Folklore, Bodylore Issue. Ed. Barbara Babcock and Katherine Young, 107(423), 1994: 9-22.

Sklar, Deidre. "The Footfall of Words: A Reverie on Walking with Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe," Journal of American Folklore 118 (467), 2005:9-20 (manuscript version).

Stern, Daniel N.  The Interpersonal World of the Infant.  A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology.  New York: Basic Books, 1985: 46-61.

Blakeslee, Sandra.  "Cells that Read Minds," NY Times, January 10, 2006.

Optional

Fronsdal, Gil.  "The Body at the Center," The Issue at Hand: Essays on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice, 2001. http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/imc-iah.html

Week 3          The Argument for Awareness

• Do Walking Meditation (10 minutes).
• Discuss readings (30 minutes).  How much awareness do we have of our sensations/senses?  Can we tune into or out of those senses? End with a Free write about discussion (5 minutes).
•  Do the exercise: Questioning Movement Awareness (5-10 minutes). Based on that activity, complete a Free write (5 minutes). 
• Finish Reading Kinesthetic Autobiographies

Due: 

• Write up response to readings.

 Leder, Drew.  "The Ecstatic Body," The Absent Body.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990: 11-35.

Lewis, J. Lowell. "Genre and Embodiment:  From Brazilian Capoeira to the Ethnology of Human Movement," Cultural Anthropology, 10(2), 1995: 221-243.

Optional:

Depraz, Natalie, Francisco J. Varela and Pierre Vermesch.  "The Gesture of Awareness: An Account of its Structural Dynamics."  In Investigating Phenomenal Consciousness, Amsterdam: Benjamin Publishers, 1999.

Leder, Drew.  "Flesh and Blood: A Proposed Supplement to Merleau-Ponty," Human Studies 13, 1990: 209-219.

Week 4          Bodies in Pain

 Review where we've been so far:

         We started with a grounding in child psychology, via Stern, in particular the fact that we are "hard-wired" with the capacity to translate certain kinds of information (high/low, light/strong, choppy/smooth)  between sensory modalities.  This served as the basis for Sklar's reliance on kinesthetic empathy as one among other research tools for appreciating another's  movement experience.

         We then considered the basic question of bodily awareness from a philosophical perspective, in particular, its everyday absence (Leder), countered by Lewis' suggestion that movement performers might provide a special case of mediated awareness

         Today we move to a different kind of somatic experience -- not movement, but pain, and the specific problem of its relation to verbalization... and power, and creation, and therefore back to sentience as a "good."

• Do breathing meditation (mind “rides” on the breath). When the mind is settled, move your awareness to somatic sensations:  of temperature, pressure or constriction (pinching, pressing, gnawing, cramping, pressing), the rhythm or temporal qualities of the sensation (flickering, quivering, pulsating, throbbing, beating), and any other qualitative details you notice.  At the same time be aware of whether each sensation you notice is pleasant or unpleasant or neutral. You are thereby noticing not just the sensory dimensions but also the affective (pleasant/unpleasant), and probably cognitive (I don’t like it – go away; I like it – want more) dimensions of pain.  
• Freewrite based on your experience of the breathing meditation. 
• Discuss Scarry: explore the problem of pain and its expression as a somatic cultural experience.  More generally, consider the relation between sensory and verbal knowledge.
• View Kaluli  dance of Papua New Guinea.

 Due: 

• Write up response to readings.

 Scarry, Elaine.  The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World.  NY: Oxford University Press, 1985: 3-23.

Schieffelin, Edward E. "Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality, " American Ethnologist, Vol. 12, No 4, 1985: 707-722.

Optional:

Feld Steven.  “Aesthetics and Synesthesia in Kaluli Ceremonial Dance,” UCLA Journal of Dance Ethnology 14, 1990: 1-16.

Week 5          The Ritual Body

• Discuss Lex and Turner.
• In order to sample the experience of ritual "tuning," make a circle and establish a repetitive step and gesture moving in unison. Then choose a thought/wish such as "Peace be with you" or the Metta/lovingkindness prayer* for self and others. The goal is to join a physical repetitive action with a shared mental intention.
• Then do Freewrite in rhythmic mode: based either on the rhythm of your steps in the previous exercise or a song or poem that comes to mind (the kind that 'runs thru your head' that you don't have to think about.)  Let yourself move inside with it- like singing it in your body. Now letting that music be there, open the verbal 'free association channel' and start letting sounds or words come up in time to the music. Establish the rhythm in your body and let the words bubble up in and around that rhythm. Freewrite for 10 minutes. 

* May I be happy

May I be well

May I be safe

May I be peaceful & at ease

[Then substitute for "I" my classmates, teacher, family, countrymen, world, etc.]

• In teams, brainstorm creating a rite of passage that uses some of the neurobiological factors Lex discusses combined with symbolic messages. Choose a meaningful transition for which you can incorporate texts, music, objects, and dancing that have rich associations for the person in transition and that will actually help that person undergo that transition (such as for a graduating senior, someone moving, etc.)
• Write up at home in the form of a script.

 Due: 

• Write up response to readings.

Lex, Barbara.  "The Neurobiology of Ritual Trance.” In  The Spectrum of Ritual.  A Biogenetic Structural Analysis. Ed. Eugene G. D’Aquili, Charles D. Laughlin, Jr., and John McManus.  NN: Columbia University Press, 1979: 117-152.

Turner, Victor.  The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969: 94-7; 106-111; 131-133.

Optional:

Rappaport, Roy. “The Obvious Aspects of Ritual" In Ecology, Meaning, and Religion.   Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1979.

                   **[Fascinating treatment combining semiotic and phenomenological ideas, he declares that the effectiveness of religious ritual depends on the combination of liturgical statements and embodied presence.] **

 Week 6                  The "Habitus"

• Discuss the readings.  During discussion, do Ticks exercise.
• Walking Meditation. Establish calm state, then contemplate your walk in terms of Mauss & Bourdieu:  What might be the ways in which your walking has been conditioned? Examine your patterns: how do you hold your arms, where do you step (heel, outside edge, etc.), do shoes and the surface you're walking on influence the bones of your feet, what speed are you walking, how are you influenced by other people walking/passing by?
• Do Campus Movement Observation Tour (20-30 minutes).  Discuss.

Due: 

• Write up response to readings.
• Hand in the script for your Rite of Passage

 Mauss, Marcel.  "Body Techniques," Sociology and Psychology: Essays by Marcel Mauss: London & Boston: Routledge and K. Paul, 1979: 97-123.

Bourdieu, Pierre.  Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977: chap 1.

Week 7                  Performing Gender

• Discuss Judith Butler's ideas about gender as a performance. 
• The group who read Wacquant presents that reading; the group who read Gere presents that one. Consider the Gere and Wacquant readings in relation to Butler.
• Clearly we perform gender through clothing. Make piles of the "masculine" and of the "feminine" clothes you brought in.  Taking turns, choose 1 item at a time to put on and see how it effects your movement (both physically and influencing a self-image).  Build up a persona with 3 items. Interact as the persona.  Take the items off and free write (5 minutes) -- pay attention to how you moved, any sense of constriction or freedom in specific places, your pace and rhythm, changes in your shape.   All begin again, choosing the other gender stereotype (sorry about that -- we're only working with 2 genders but feel free to improvise).
• Freewrite: compare the two experiences.  Discuss.

Due:

• Write up response to readings.
• Bring in several stereotypically masculine & several stereotypically feminine items of clothing (considering US mainstream expectations)

Butler , Judith.  "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory," Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4., 1988: 519-531

½ the class read:

Wacquant, Loic J.D.  "The Pugilistic Point of View: How Boxers Think and Feel about Their Trade," Theory and Society, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1995: 489-535.

and ½ the class read:

Gere, David. "29 Effeminate Gestures: Choreographer Joe Goode and the Heroism of Effeminacy."  In Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities On and Off the Stage. Ed. Jane Desmond.  Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001:349-381.

Recommended:

Goffman, Irving. "Performances," The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, pp17-76.

Young, Iris Marion. “Throwing like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality.” Human Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 1980, pp. 137–156.

Spring Recess 

Week 8                  Cultivating the Body

• Discuss readings. Consider movements in which individuals conform to facilitate institutionalization (marching, military drills, etc) compared to movements in which individuals conform to create unity and express belief (as in our earlier experience and discussion of unison in ritual.)  Is this a false distinction? Re: Foucault. What institutions are you part of that shape the way you move and present yourself? Discuss the dance studio in particular. Are there ways in which you resist institutionalization? Re: Elias. Are there ways you try to distinguish yourself through the ways you move and present yourself?  What spatial/bodily situations rely on conformity?  (military maneuver; parades; traffic; religious ritual)  Which rely on transgression? (rape; occupying-- lying down in -- an office; some types of protest; other?)  Which rely on a combination?  (sports--football)]
• Translate our discussion into a non-verbal form (kinesthetic, somatic, inscriptive, visual, sonic). In other words, make a performance piece. Use anything in the room -- table tops, under tables, etc. any materials the room provides, but avoid destroying anything.  You may work individually or in pairs or groups. Rehearse and then perform for the class.

Optional: View John Berger / Ways of Seeing , Episode 3 (1972)

Due:

• Write up response to readings.

Foucault, Michel.  "Docile Bodies," Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.  NY: Vintage/Random House, 1977: 135-169.

Elias, Norbert.  "On Medieval Manners," The History of Manners Vol. 1.  NY: Pantheon, 1978: 60-69.

 Berger, John. “The Suit and the Photograph,” About Looking.  NY: Pantheon Books, 1980: 27-36.

Week 9          Semiotics of Sensation

• Do Drop Down exercise.  Can you discern in which senses your "thoughts" arise? i.e. do you see images, hear words/sounds, feel sensations, etc.? Freewrite about your experience.  
• Discuss Readings. 
• View video clips of Ghanaian (West African), Ballet and Contact and discuss.  Consider which senses are emphasized in different cultures.

Due:

• Write up response to readings.

 Howes, David.  "Introduction: To Summon All the Senses," The Variety of Sensory Experience.  A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses.  Ed. David Howes and Constance Classen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991: 3-21.

Howes, David.  "Sensorial Anthropology," The Variety of Sensory Experience.  A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses.  Ed. David Howes and Constance Classen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991: 167-191.

Bull, Cynthia Cohen.  “Sense, Meaning, and Perception in Three Dance Cultures,” Meaning in Motion. New Cultural Studies of Dance.  Ed. Jane Desmond.  Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997: 269-288.       

Optional:

Efron, David.  Gesture, Race and Culture.  A tentative study of some of the spatio-temporal and “linguistic” aspects of the gestural behavior of eastern Jews and southern Italians in New York City, living under similar as well as different environmental conditions, 1941. The Hague and Paris: Mouton, 1972       .

 Week 10        Embodiment vs. the Body

• Discuss readings.    
• Do short Walking Meditation. 
• Share your portfolio of images. Discuss. 
• Translate our discussion into a non-verbal form (kinesthetic, somatic, inscriptive, visual- i.e. a dance, an image, a piece of music , a verbal improv). Use anything in the room -- table tops, under tables, etc. any materials the room provides, but avoid destroying anything. You may work individually or in pairs or groups. Rehearse and then perform for the class.

Due:

• Write up response to readings.
• Gather images from magazines, advertisements, posters, etc. that show idealized versions of the human form from any time period and culture.

Csordas, Thomas.  "Embodiment and Cultural Phenomenology."  In: Perspectives on Embodiment.  Ed. Gail Weiss & Honi Fern Faber. NY & London: Routledge, 1999: 143- 162.

Bordo, Susan. "Reading the Slender Body."  In Body and Flesh: A Philosophical Reader.  Ed. Donn Welton.  Oxford: Blackwell, 1998: 291-304.

Becker, Ann.  "Nurturing and Negligence: Working on Others' Bodies in Fiji."  In Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground of Culture and Self.  Ed. Thomas J. Csordas.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994: 100-115.

Optional:

Csordas, Thomas J.  “Somatic Modes of Attention,” Cultural Anthropology v. 8 (2), May 1993: 135-156.

Csordas, Thomas J.  “Embodiment as a Paradigm for Anthropology,” Ethos 18(1), March, 1990: 5-47.         

Week 11       The Medical Body

• Do Drop Down exercise. When mind has calmed, bring up a medical visit (doctor's office, hospital, dentist, etc.): re-view, re-call, re-member.  Freewrite about what this brought up to you. 
• Discuss how the details of these experiences demonstrate the "medical" approach to embodiment. 
• Discuss any experiences with non-"medical" health and healing practices.  Consider borrowed genres such as yoga classes, talk therapy, reflexology, acupuncture, meditation.
• Discuss readings.

Due:

• Write up response to readings.

Young, Katherine. "Still Life with Corpse: Management of the Grotesque Body in Medicine."  In Bodylore. Ed. Katherine Young.  Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993: 111-133.

Martin, Emily. "Talking Back to Neuro-Reductionism."  In Cultural Bodies: Ethnography and Theory.  Ed. Helen Thomas & Jamilah Ahmed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004: 190-211.

Optional:

Rappaport, Roy A., 1979  “On Cognized Models,”  Ecology, Meaning, and Religon.  Berkely:  North Atlantic Books: 97-144.

Week 12      Student presentations

Week 13      (If needed) Student presentations 

Finals Session         Hand in final essays. Party.