Embodied Learning in the Asian Religions Classroom

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Abstract

How are scholars of Asian religions applying embodied approaches to learning in our courses? And, what does the incorporation of these pedagogical methods offer students? This pair of questions orients our proposed workshop exploring how experts in Himalayan, Southeast and East Asian religions are using body activity as a catalyst to learning in their undergraduate teaching.

This workshop is built around four presentations introducing diverse ways that professors are offering students opportunities to engage their bodies in the learning process. Justin McDaniel will discuss “Living Deliberately,” a seminar in which students observe restrictions on dress, technology, and food as a way to confront some of the same physical, spiritual, and ethical questions faced by the monastics they study. Frances Garrett will explore a yearlong role-playing game she conducted in which her “Introduction to Buddhism” students created and dwelled within the religious world of an imagined Tibetan village. Seth Harter will explain how contemplative learning figures in his “Introduction to Confucianism and Daoism” course. Susan Andrews will consider how the hands-on analysis of musical instruments, clothing and other objects increases her “Food and Asian Religions” students’ appreciation for sensory dimensions of practice.

Assessing the pedagogical goals and outcomes of these projects, these short presentations will serve as a springboard for meaningful conversation about the possibilities and limitations of participative pedagogies for our field. In addition to contributing to discussions of the value that sensory motoric input has for learning, the workshop aims to facilitate brainstorming and collaboration among Asian Studies scholars.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• Susan Andrews, Mount Allison University

Chair

• James Carter, Saint Joseph's University

Presenters

• Seth Harter, Marlboro College

• Justin McDaniel, University of Pennsylvania

• Frances Garrett, University of Toronto

• Susan Andrews, Mount Allison University