Conversations on Embodiment Across Higher Education


Book Description

"Embodiment" is a concept that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. However, it is a contested term, and the literature is fragmented, particularly within Higher Education. This has resulted in silos of work that are not easily able to draw on previous or related knowledge in order to support and progress understanding. Conversations on Embodiment Across Higher Education brings a cohesive understanding to congruent approaches by drawing on discussions between academics to explore how they have used embodiment in their work. This book brings academics from fields including dance, drama, education, anthropology, early years, sport, sociology and philosophy together, to begin conversations on how their understandings of embodiment have impacted on their teaching, practice and research. Each chapter explores an aspect of embodiment according to a particular disciplinary or theoretical perspective, and begins a discussion with a contributor with another viewpoint. This book will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students from a diverse range of disciplinary areas, as evidenced by the backgrounds of the contributors. It will be of particular interest to those in the fields of education, sociology, anthropology, dance and drama as well as other movement or body-orientated professionals who are interested in the ideas of embodiment.​




Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia


Book Description

Demands for excellence and efficiency have created an ableist culture in academia. What impact do these expectations have on disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent colleagues? This important and eye-opening collection explores ableism in academia from the viewpoint of academics' personal and professional experiences and scholarship. Through the theoretical lenses of autobiography, autoethnography, embodiment, body work and emotional labour, contributors from the UK, Canada and the US present insightful, critical, analytical and rigorous explorations of being ‘othered’ in academia. Deeply embedded in personal experiences, this perceptive book provides examples for universities to develop inclusive practices, accessible working and learning conditions and a less ableist environment.




Borders of Qualitative Research


Book Description

Increasing numbers of researchers are using arts-based, embodied or creative methods. They promote rapport and connection, facilitating research that reaches beyond surface understanding to expose authentic stories and hidden, richer truths. Whilst powerful, these methods can have unintended consequences and the potential for harm. Drawing on case studies and lessons learned from programmes and work across research, therapy, education, art and science, this engaging book explores and demonstrates the porous borders of research. It invites researchers to reflect and consider the boundaries and consequences of their work in order to deepen and widen its applicability and impact across science, art, education and therapy.




Embodied Inquiry


Book Description

Embodied inquiry is the process of using embodied approaches in order to study, explore or investigate a topic. But what does it actually mean to be 'embodied'? This book explores why and how we use our bodies in order to research, what an embodied approach brings to a research project, and the kinds of considerations that need to be taken into account to research in this way. We all have bodies, feelings, emotions and experiences that affect the questions we are interested in, the ways in which we choose to approach finding out the answers to those questions, and the patterns we see in the data we gather as a result. Embodied Inquiry foregrounds these questions of positionality and reflexivity in research. It considers how a project or study may be designed to take these into account and why multimodal and creative approaches to research may be used to capture embodied experiences. The book offers insights into how to analyse the types of data emerging from embodied inquiries, and the ethical considerations that are important to consider. Accounting for the interdisciplinary nature of the field, this book has been written to be a concise primer into Embodied Inquiry for research students, scholars and practitioners alike.




Embodied Social Justice


Book Description

Embodied Social Justice introduces an embodied approach to working with oppression. Grounded in current research, the book integrates key findings from education, psychology, sociology, and somatic studies while addressing critical gaps in how these fields have addressed pervasive patterns of social injustice. At the heart of the book, a series of embodied narratives bring to life everyday experiences of oppression through evocative descriptions of how power implicitly shapes body image, interpersonal space, eye contact, gestures, and the use of touch. This second edition includes two new "body stories" from research participants living and working in the global South. Supplemental guidelines for practice, updated references, and new community resources have also been added. Designed for social workers, counselors, educators, and other human service professionals working with members of disenfranchised and marginalized communities, Embodied Social Justice offers a conceptual framework and model of practice to assist in identifying, unpacking, and transforming embodied experiences of oppression from the inside out.







The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education


Book Description

Introducing a fresh approach to conceptualising and actioning high-quality teaching in higher education, this essential volume fills a gap in current literature by expanding beyond the mere ‘delivery’ of teaching. Instead, it offers an evidence-based discussion of ‘artistry’ and demonstrates how this may be applied successfully within a higher education setting to enable better student learning. Key concepts such as improvisation, embodiment, knowing oneself and one’s students, and a compassionate and relational approach to facilitating learning are unpacked throughout. Filled with practical examples based on scholarship and experience from and applicable to a wide range of disciplines, The Artistry of Teaching in Higher Education is divided into three distinct parts which explore: Creativity, improvisation and context; Authenticity and professional identity; Developing the artistry of teaching. An essential read for teachers, senior management, educational developers, and policy makers alike, this book acts as a call to action within higher education institutions to support and create space for learning, creativity and innovation, to the benefit of the development of their teachers’ expertise.




Exploring Institutional Logics for Technology-Mediated Higher Education


Book Description

This book articulates the complexities inherent in higher education’s multi-faceted response to the forces of mediatization—or how institutions change when their social communication gets mediated by technology—and introduces a novel perspective to comprehend them in a systematic way. By drawing on archival analysis and six organizational case studies, the author empirically traces the emergence of a cyber-cultural institution within higher education. As these case studies demonstrate, this new institutional logic requires creativity, individual recognition, and an underlying platform powered by cyber technologies and digitization of content. Using an analytical lens, this cyber-cultural perspective answers many questions about why faculty refuse to adopt online education, why students struggle with mediated teaching, and what possibly could be done to take online education to its next level.




Global Perspectives on International Student Experiences in Higher Education


Book Description

Global Perspectives on International Student Experiences in Higher Education examines a wide range of international student experiences empirically from multiple perspectives that includes socio-cultural identities, contextual influences on their learning experiences, their wellbeing experiences, and their post-study experiences. This collection sheds light on the over five million students who cross geographical, cultural, and educational borders for higher education outside of their home countries. This book consists of nineteen chapters spread across four sections. Throughout the book, contributors question the existing assumptions and values of international student programs and services, reexamine and explore new perspectives to present the emerging challenges and critical evaluations of student experiences and their identities. Offering a rich understanding of these students and their global college experiences in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Americas, this book offers research-based strategies to effectively recruit, engage, support, and retain international students as they participate in higher educational settings around the world. This book provides resource material to benefit educators, policymakers, and staff who work closely with international students in higher education.




Deconstructing Martial Arts


Book Description

What is the essence of martial arts? What is their place in or relationship with culture and society? Deconstructing Martial Arts analyses familiar issues and debates that arise in scholarly, practitioner and popular cultural discussions and treatments of martial arts and argues that martial arts are dynamic and variable constructs whose meanings and values regularly shift, mutate and transform, depending on the context. It argues that deconstructing martial arts is an invaluable approach to both the scholarly study of martial arts in culture and society and also to wider understandings of what and why martial arts are. Placing martial arts in relation to core questions and concerns of media and cultural studies around identity, value, orientalism, and embodiment, Deconstructing Martial Arts introduces and elaborates deconstruction as a rewarding method of cultural studies.