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An Embodied Approach in a Cognitive Discipline

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Time and Space in the Neoliberal University

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Abstract

Academia can be an uncomfortable place to work. Academics are examples of professionals who have multiple stresses and pressures. Being an academic is often a fundamental part of someone’s identity. Academia can be a cerebral, critical, competitive and judgmental environment. This chapter draws from a study using creative research methods with academics who self-identified as having an embodied practice. There are different definitions of embodiment. I use embodiment to mean both a state of being and a process of learning about the self, and so embodied practices are ways of bringing conscious self-awareness to and about the body. The academics reflected on the meanings they attributed to these embodied practices, tensions with their embodied identity, and how they used embodied practices to impact on their wellbeing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Jennifer Leigh

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  1. Jennifer Leigh
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Correspondence to Jennifer Leigh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Maddie Breeze

  2. School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Yvette Taylor

  3. Department of Education and Childhood, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Cristina Costa

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Leigh, J. (2019). An Embodied Approach in a Cognitive Discipline. In: Breeze, M., Taylor, Y., Costa, C. (eds) Time and Space in the Neoliberal University. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15246-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15246-8_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15245-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15246-8

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