Panel: Embodied Inquiry

Prof. Liora Bresler: The embodied qualitative researcher: Discernment, attunement and care. This talk will center on our embodiment as qualitative researchers, in relation to the diverse roles of academic life -- teaching; fieldwork research; writing; and the communication of research-, including variations in cultural sensibilities. Drawing on my background as a performing pianist, I will address the explicit, implicit and null aspects of embodiment in research, and how embodiment can be cultivated to explore subjectivities and cultivate care and spaciousness, for self and others. Dr. Merel Visse: Inquiring Bodies: an apophatic approach. Apophatic, initially known in mystical traditions but gaining terrain in secular contexts, refers to describing something by what cannot be said or understood. Instead of working with bodies by wanting to know them, an apophatic approach “meanders” around them, seeks a relationship. Such an approach also opens up our perception of what a body is and can be. We will explore an apophatic approach to bodies in inquiry: organic and non-organic (or: material and mystical). Dr. Koji Matsunobu: A musical embodiment of nature, place, and memories. Based on my ethnographic research on the jinashi shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute), I will explicate a form and process of musical engagement, such as harvesting bamboo, manufacturing an instrument, and making a sound, as leading to an embodied experience of nature and place. It is also a way of making a flute a living companion full of significant memories in life. Prof. Jan Erkert: The Embodied Leader…Attending to Internal Cues. Drawing on my experiences as the Head of a Dance Department, choreographer, and a dance educator, I will explore embodiment as a critical component of leadership asking, how might intuition be utilized as vital component of decision making? Throughout my talk, I will explore numerous methodologies for cultivating intuition, so that trusting the heart, or listening to the gut is fundamental to sorting through the facts. Bonnie Weiss: Unblocking the Creative Self. The Internal Family Systems Model defines the inner system as consisting of Protector Parts, that interact with the outer world, Exiled Parts that hold childhood pain, and a Self that is our spiritual center. When we define, explore, and attend to the protective system; and pay loving attention to the exiled parts, we free the creative potential of the larger Self. This presentation will serve as an experiential introduction to the power of this model.