Dis/Embodied Pedagogies Workshop

Session Submission Type: Non-Paper Session: Workshop Format

Abstract

This workshop examines "embodied" pedagogies from a critical perspective. The term "embodiment" often becomes a catch-all phrase for anti-Cartesian pedagogical methods while simultaneously reenacting the very dichotomies it aims to oppose. What has "embodied" research come to signify in the neoliberal academy, and how might one offer alternatives to practices that re-perform the very structures they aim to dismantle? (Liberal) embodied research and social justice calls to action privilege the (often white) individual body, but they do not always give attention to the hierarchies of power that are reenacted in these pedagogical scenarios. Embodiment becomes a universal concept attributed solely to the human, that becomes available only to sentient beings that can move in and out of consciousness to feel their "bodies." However, is it possible to attune to human and non-human bodies through an emphasis on dis-embodied, fractured, molecular pedagogies that consider contingent power manifested through touch, gender, race, sweat, and ability? This workshop provides attendees with an experiential opportunity to attune to these questions of power in an “embodied” workshop.

Working across sites in and outside of the U.S., our workshop brings together scholars who are interested in how American Studies shapes the reception of embodied pedagogy in transnational contexts. Our panel moves from a study of individual practices of dissent to a critique of the institutional management of bodies. Natalia Duong considers how ‘embodied research’ reaffirms ableist practices that reify the supercrip’s ability to “overcome” while simultaneously remaining inaccessible to non-normate bodies. David Melendez conceptualizes disruption as pedagogical practice and affective labor in challenging exploitative and technocratic management strategies of “diversity” in higher education. Finally, johnmichael rossi’s research is concerned with using guilt, despair, and poorly formatted applications as pedagogies of dissent within the corporate takeover of educational institutions. Through our collective conversations, we hope to offer a space for attendees to reevaluate pedagogies of embodied research.

Sub Unit

• American Studies Association Annual Meeting

Chair

• Natalia Duong, University of California, Berkeley

Comments

• Johnmichael Rossi, Independent Scholar

• David A Melendez, University of Minnesota Twin Cities