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Geographies of the Body

Module description

The body has become an increasingly important subject and object of geographical inquiry. In this module we will explore some of the ways that the body has been investigated and conceptualised, including through the senses, emotions and skills. The module is suitable if you have an interest in the body, how we live in the world through our bodies, and are interested in reflecting on your own bodily experiences as framed through geographical concepts and theories. The module involves reading group discussions that will require preparation and participation. It will also involve some practical activities that are essential to exploring and reflecting on your own bodily experiences. These will involve things such as a skill share (where I will invite you to share your embodied skills – anything from juggling to knitting – with your peers), and a guided sensory walk. You will also be invited to draw on your experiences of any of your own existing embodied practices, for example yoga, swimming, running, walking, dancing, climbing.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module has three aims:

• to enable you to explore how geographers have understood the body
• to review the methods that geographers have used to develop these understandings
• to reflect on these ideas and methods in relation to your own bodily experiences.

The module will offer an in-depth examination of how geographers have come to understand the body in the wake of non-representational theories. This marked a fundamental shift in how some geographers have gone about doing research, how they have conceptualised the kinds of selves we are and the relationships we have to the world, and the kinds of literatures they have drawn upon (from choreography to neuroscience). We will examine some of the key themes that geographers interested in the body have developed, including skills and embodied knowledges, the senses and the relationship to the self, movement and mobilities, and emotional geographies.

These themes will be grounded in discussions of specific literatures, considerations of how geographers have gone about doing this kind of research, as well as experiments with our own bodies in a series of practical tasks. This module is grounded in the convenor’s research into bodily practices, including past work on practices such as yoga and massage (which looked at themes such as learning embodied skills, the interrelations of body and world opened up through therapeutic touch, and the making of the self through disciplined bodily practices), and current collaborative work with a choreographer (attempting to develop new understandings of homelessness through bodies and movements). These practical tasks are based on the assumption that to really learn about bodies, we need to connect with our own bodily experiences. They will underpin your developing understanding of how we might document bodily practices (which will result in you producing a reflective account of your own participation in a chosen embodied practice – this might be one of the things we do in an ‘at home’ task, or something you already do in your leisure time); as well as how to judge accounts of bodily practices (we will co-produce the marking criteria that will be used for the reflective account of a bodily practice assessment). The second assessment element is a 2000 word essay that will require you to reflect on how geographers have variously understood the body.

Through active participation in the module, the aim is that you will further develop the following academic and professional skills:

• problem solving (developing own ideas with confidence, identifying and using appropriate sources of information, selectively collecting and collating appropriate information)
• managing structure (identifying key demands of the task, setting clearly defined goals, conceptualising central issues within the task, developing strategies to ensure individual progress)
• time management (managing time effectively individually)
• collaboration (respecting the views and values of others, taking initiative and leading others, supporting others in their work, maintaining group cohesiveness and purpose)
• and audience awareness (presenting ideas effectively in multiple formats, persuading others of the importance and relevance of your views, responding positively and effectively to questions).

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Explain how and why the body has become an important scale of investigation for Geographers
• 2. Evaluate how geographers have variously understood the body
• 3. Offer your own accounts of bodily experiences, movement, sensations and knowledges for an academic audience
• 4. Develop a relationship with your own body through engagement with body practices
• 5. Evaluate geographers’ attempts to translate bodily knowledges into writing for academic audiences

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Understand and critique geographical arguments and knowledges
• 7. Understand and take responsibility for judging and creating geographical knowledges
• 8. Communicate geographical ideas, principles and theories effectively using oral, written and embodied skills
• 9. Understand how the body relates to broader geographical research, understandings and knowledges

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 10. Develop independent/self-directed study/learning skills, including time management
• 11. Present material to support a reasoned and consistent argument, both verbally and in writing
• 12. Identify, acquire, evaluate and synthesise data from a range of sources
• 13. Develop a critical and reflexive relationship to your own knowledges, including body knowledges
• 14. Evaluate research-based articles within the wider context of the topic as a whole
• 15. Develop writing skills for different audiences

Syllabus plan

• The module will include themes such as skill, sensing, movement and feeling.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bissell, D. (2009) ‘Obdurate pains, transient intensities: affect and the chronically-pained body’ Environment and Planning A, 41(4), 911-928.
• Bondi, L. and Davidson, J. (eds) (2007) Emotional Geographies, London, Routledge.
• Cresswell, T. (2010)’ Towards a politics of mobility’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 28(1) 17-31
• Edensor, T. (2000) ‘Walking in the British Countryside: Reflexivity, Embodiment and Ways to Escape’, Body and Society 6 (2-3): 81-106
• Laurier, E. & Philo, C. (2006) ‘Possible geographies: a passing encounter in a caféArea 38(4) 353-363.
• Lea, J. (2009) ‘Becoming skilled: the cultural and corporeal geographies of teaching and learning Thai Yoga Massage, Geoforum, 40(3), 465-474.
• Lerman, L. (2014) Hiking the Horizontal, Middletown, Wesleyan University Press.
• Lorimer, H. (2012) ‘Surfaces and slopes’ Performance Research, 17(2) 83-86.
• Malbon, B. (1999) Clubbing: dancing, ecstasy and vitality, London, Routledge.
• McCormack, D. (2014) Refrains for Moving Bodies: experience and experiment in affective spaces, Durham, Duke University press.
• Paterson, M. and Dodge, M. (eds) (2012) Touching place, Placing Touch, Andover, Ashgate.
• Spinney. J. (2006) ‘A place of sense: a kinaesthetic ethnography of cyclists on Mont Ventoux’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(5) 709-732.
• Thrift, N. (2008) Non-representational theory: space, politics, affect, London, Routledge.
• Thrift, N. and Dewsbury, JD. (2000) ‘Dead Geographies – and how to make them live’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 18(4) 411-432.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=10280

Key words search

The body, embodied knowledges, skills, the senses, movement, emotions.