Pondering in Embodiment
I was invited to write an introductory chapter, “Pondering In Embodiment,” for this book. My Introduction responds to the work done through the three interdisciplinary, community projects that the book goes on to review. The chapter ties together the three projects through the notion of being ‘in embodiment’ (rather than being ’embodied’). The chapter also serves to introduce the following sections of the book that discuss and reflect on the projects.
“…Bodies of Knowledge attends to layers of experience for noticing surfaces that reflect ourselves-in-embodiment. In doing so, the projects acknowledge experience, reflections, histories and stories that are often underrepresented in social verbal discourse, but remain vibrant in the bodily experience of those who live them. The depth of layers of the lived-experience are vitalised through the nuance of the arts, and in that vitalisation, they communicate reflections of ourselves-in-embodiment.” – Akinleye p.21
Citation: Akinleye, A. (2021). ‘Pondering in Embodiment’, in Purseglove, L. (ed.) Bodies of Knowledge: Three Conversations on Movement, Communication and Identity. Loughborough and London: Radar and Live Art Development Agency, pp. 10-21.
More about this book
The human body is a site of knowledge production. It holds, shares, creates, enacts, transforms, contests, resists, and performs ways of thinking and being in-and-against our worlds, histories, and futures. Featuring conversations, essays, drawings and photographs, Bodies of Knowledgereflects and builds on an interdisciplinary project involving artists, amateur and professional dancers, wrestlers, members of a trans community group, and academic researchers interrogating how our bodies are both produced by and productive of knowledges.
From the entanglements of violence and care in the wrestling ring to negotiations of identity through Kathak dance, and the use of photography as a means to explore and communicate the euphorias and horrors of gender, this beautifully designed book explores why and how our bodies know what they know.
Contributors: Adesola Akinleye, Isaac Briggs, Jennifer Cooke, Laurie Crow, Thomas Dawkins (aka Cara Noir), Tara Fatehi Irani, Julia Giese, Martin Hargreaves, Claire Heafford, Joe Moran, Kesha Raithatha, Raju Rage, Nat Thorne, Claire Warden, Sam West and Sam Williams.