Unsettling the Mind/Body Dualism: Embodied Learning, Tikkun Olam, & Progressive Citizenship Education

Authors

  • Frances Cachon University of Windsor

Keywords:

embodied pedagogies, citizenship education, social justice

Abstract

Progressive citizenship education aims to reclaim and renew our democratic institutions, this is predicated on a critically informed, engaged, and active citizenry. I first consider the nexus of progressive citizenship education and the ancient Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, which has become synonymous with pursuit of social justice. Addressing the noted deficit in the literature of how educators learn to teach social justice, this article explores the transformative potential of embodied pedagogies in teaching for social justice. Emerging from interdisciplinary questioning of the mind/body dualism or ‘disembodiment’, feminists have stressed the importance of embodied pedagogies to the creation of educational spaces that simultaneously challenge dominant systems of knowledge (i.e. the universal), while affirming corporeal ways of knowing (i.e. experiential). I provide a brief overview of studies documenting the integration of embodied learning, emphasizing the importance of contemplative practices and ‘unsettling’ to the transformative potential of social justice education. 

Author Biography

Frances Cachon, University of Windsor

Dr. Frances Cachon is Co-Investigator for this SSHRC funded “Tikkun” project, Pedagogies of Repair and Reconciliation (Tikkun) The Embodied Praxis of Youth Civic Engagement. She is an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at the University of Windsor, where she earned her Ph.D. in Sociology with an emphasis in social justice. Her dissertation considered the under researched transnational lives of Mexican migrants in Canada, highlighting the importance of embodied transnationalism (the intimate, material and corporeal social-spatial relations from which the practices of transnational engagement are produced). She is currently exploring embodied pedagogies for critical education and will be expanding this research through this partnership.

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Published

2016-05-20

Issue

Vol. 5 (2015): Citizenship Education Research Journal

Section

Articles

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