The Call to Experience Old & New: Tradition, Transformation, and Application

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Abstract

John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal, Dwight Conquergood, Peter McLaren, Elyse Lamm Pineau and many other activist/teacher/scholars have brought the idea of the intelligent, articulate, experiencing body back into education as both lens and method. The claim to experience as the first-step to empowerment and transformation is not a new idea. Nonetheless, in an age of mediated passivity and consumption, the focus of our panel reclaims the urgency and commitment to experiential, performative, and transformative education. We both cite and claim new possibilities and innovations for the lived body and the body politic continued through this progressive, critical lineage of scholar/teachers who have utilized experiential learning’s ability to present the conditions for personal and social transformation.

Sub Unit

• Experiential Learning in Communication Division

Presenters

• Eddah Mutua-Kombo, St. Cloud State University

• Amanda Feller, Pacific Lutheran University

• Jamie L. Huber, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

• Elena Esquibel, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Session Organizer

• Katherine Karsnak, National Communication Association