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Aprender Cone L Cuerpo
Aprender Cone L Cuerpo
Aprender Cone L Cuerpo
recognize that 1) all knowers have sexually and racially specific bodies
(inscribed as such by societies and cultures), and 2) spatially and culturally
situated bodies limit and shape knowers’ perspectives and experiences,
then we can challenge the claim that there is such a thing as universal
knowledge. Grosz (1994) contends that the Eurocentric, patriarchal power
in Western knowledge production is maintained via the willful disembodi-
ment of white male scientists (known for their brilliant, objective minds),
and via the equation of women and those in other marginalized groups
to bodies (deemed as passive objects incapable of knowing or reason).
The key to dismantling such a system is to develop alternative models
of knowledge production that challenge the interconnected dualisms and
hierarchies (mind/body, male/female, white/other), and that recognize the
body’s capacity to know. The body is not just another thing or object to be
controlled and studied. It is in and through our bodies that we experience
the world and develop consciousness (Grosz 1994).
The notion of knowing bodies has profound implications for pedagogy.
The prominent paradigm of critical pedagogy correctly attributes the
power struggles in educational realms to their social, historical contexts.
Curiously, this paradigm has by and large ignored the body’s roles in these
struggles (Giroux et al. 1995). The highly theoretical writings by critical
pedagogues bespeak a disembodied approach to knowledge, which could
explain critical pedagogy’s strained relationship with feminist pedagogy
(Gore 1993) as well as the difficulty in accessing these theories on the part
of educators teaching from the trenches (Gimenez 1998, 116).
When one takes the view from the trenches, what do embodied knowl-
edges look like? How do we claim or even recognize bodily knowledges?
While realizing that embodied knowledges manifest in numerous ways,
I limit my discussion to three interconnected concepts through which
embodied knowledges can be foregrounded: Lived experiences, cultural
performance, and bodily intelligence.
Gupta and Martinez: Our work with ADT is a collaboration of mind, body,
spirit, and soul. Through our research we inform the dancers of the poli-
cies and actions that impact indigenous women. . . . [T]he dancers echo
back to us the imagery of our words. Together, we nurture our research,
activism, and art and challenge ourselves to become more diligent in our
social justice work.
ADT’s in-depth and long-term collaboration with Shalini Gupta and Ceci-
lia Martinez illustrates the invigorating potential of integrating art and
science, research and activism, theory and practice. Although performance
itself produces embodied knowledges and is thus a mode of pedagogy,
ADT and collaborators realize that performance’s pedagogical implications
could go much further beyond the performance space. To help even more
people understand environmental justice issues and to draw them into the
environmental justice movement, ADT has taken embodied ways of learn-
ing into communities and classrooms. The collaboration between ADT
and CSC began in 2005 when CSC faculty, staff, and students attended
ADT’s performance. It culminated in a year-long ADT residency at CSC
in 2008, including talks, workshops, discussions, and performances. CSC
also benefited from the expertise of Gupta and Martinez, ADT’s collabo-
rators. A highlight of the residency was ADT’s participation in the 2008
ISC, including a full-length performance and a workshop on embodied
ways of knowing.
112 Hui Niu Wilcox
Many other students wrote that they were deeply touched by the beauty
and power of ADT’s performance, which inspired them to learn more
about environmental justice issues and to get involved in the movement.
Although we cannot predict the extent to which they follow up with this
inspiration, the seeds for change have been sown.
The residency model enjoys the benefit of scope. A total of 350 people
attended the various talks and workshops listed above. In addition, the
two nights of performances alone were witnessed by over 1,000 people,
including students, faculty, and staff at CSC, community members who
support ADT, and general patronage of the auditorium. The power of
this witnessing cannot be underestimated (Madison 2005). Some of the
audience at CSC (particularly students from marginalized, low-income
communities) had never attended a formal dance concert before. Many
more were surprised that dance could be used to disseminate science-
based research and to mobilize for social change. This new experience
changed their perceptions of art and research, and their relationship to the
environmental justice movement.
The residency model is labor intensive, and cannot be implemented
without institutional commitment and resources. On the other hand, this
model could boast institutional impact. The process of fundraising and
grant-seeking, albeit tedious and frustrating at times, generated numer-
ous interdisciplinary conversations. During the residency, embodied ways
116 Hui Niu Wilcox
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
1. I use the plural “knowledges” intentionally to acknowledge multiple ways
of knowing.
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