Embodiment, Knowledge, & Arts-Based Research
Location
Guzman 104, Dominican University of California
Start Date
4-17-2019 7:20 PM
Student Type
Graduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Chase Clow, PhD
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
When René Descartes (1596-1650) built a philosophical position that severed mind from matter, a position known as the "Cartesian Split," a number of problems arose, not the least of which was a certitude that the body is merely a vessel for the mind, having nothing of its own to contribute to knowledge. His ideas, whether intended this way or not, served to reinforce a hierarchy of knowledge in the West in which rationality reigns supreme. Feminist scholars, including Louise M. Antony and Val Plumwood, have therefore suggested that the epistemic role of embodiment has been oppressed and overlooked. They propose instead a framework of knowledge that treats the of mind and body with epistemic equity; that values embodiment, positionality, and situatedness with regard to what knowledge is and what knowers can know. This project tests their assumptions by using dance as both a heuristic tool and an arts-based research methodology to see what kind of knowledge arises in the act of embodied movement. Embodiment and arts-based research will ultimately be discussed in the thematic light of public art and public intellectuals.
Embodiment, Knowledge, & Arts-Based Research
Guzman 104, Dominican University of California
When René Descartes (1596-1650) built a philosophical position that severed mind from matter, a position known as the "Cartesian Split," a number of problems arose, not the least of which was a certitude that the body is merely a vessel for the mind, having nothing of its own to contribute to knowledge. His ideas, whether intended this way or not, served to reinforce a hierarchy of knowledge in the West in which rationality reigns supreme. Feminist scholars, including Louise M. Antony and Val Plumwood, have therefore suggested that the epistemic role of embodiment has been oppressed and overlooked. They propose instead a framework of knowledge that treats the of mind and body with epistemic equity; that values embodiment, positionality, and situatedness with regard to what knowledge is and what knowers can know. This project tests their assumptions by using dance as both a heuristic tool and an arts-based research methodology to see what kind of knowledge arises in the act of embodied movement. Embodiment and arts-based research will ultimately be discussed in the thematic light of public art and public intellectuals.