Embodiment and performance in pedagogy research: Investigating the possibility of the body in curriculum experience

Abstract

In this study, we consider experiential learning in relation to embodiment and performative practices. We address the need for a method of analysis to examine the role of the body in space, as text, and as experience. In order to develop our analysis, we define embodiment and performance as areas of thought with distinct histories and anatomies. Through an examination of theories of the body and concepts of the performative in pedagogy, we explore how bodies are constructed and understood within the "experience of learning" (Ellsworth, 2005), and situate performative pedagogy in relation to that. We draw on data from a drama education classroom, and poststructural theory, to illustrate how the body can be considered in analysis and can reveal complex and informative notions about teaching and learning, as well as bodies and performance practices in the classroom.