Background: This presentation is part of a larger study, The Body as Locus: Toward a Pedagogy of Inclusion through Performance Art-Based Practice’, related to Horizon2020 AMASS framework and investigating the role of performance art practice as a form of critical pedagogy through which new narratives of identity can be constructed and paradigms of power and cultural inscription can be critiqued. The paper will introduce the broader themes of this research and specifically examine the body as a locus - a point from which, according to Merleau-Ponty, perception is situated and knowledge is constructed. Drawing on performances and actions from post WWII Czech Republic, specifically the work of artists representing Czech Action Art from the1960s to 1990s along with current performance methods in education and social practice, this paper and subsequent research explores the potential for an embodied approach to address issues of inclusion for marginalized groups: through reconstituting identity in terms of individual transformation and as a way of repositioning oneself in relationship to Other. Methodology: Through qualitative methods of primary source data collection (semi-structured interviews and focus groups) and textual analysis approaches to addressing identity construction and inclusion in both the fields of Social Work and Performance Art Education will be critiqued and common themes will be presented. Research Questions: This data will be presented in response to key research questions: How can previously researched models of performance art in educational settings, contribute to a new pedagogical framework applicable and accessible to non-artist practitioners working toward the goal of social inclusion? What benefits demonstrated in existing practice on performance-art and art-based pedagogy can be actualized by non-artist practitioners and participants working toward the goal of social inclusion What does social inclusion look like in practice through the relationship of client/social worker and how is this work supported or deepened by arts-based and specifically embodied and performance-based interventions? Expected outcomes, findings: Inclusion by its very definition implies embodiment. The body is a social body - It does not know “I” without the gaze of an other; its movements are not scripted but are fluid and ever-changing reacting to stimulus in our environment, the language of metaphor that we have internalized, the cultural values that are inscribed into our bodies. How then can an embodied and performance art based practice reconcile a subject’s body and knowledge through participatory exercises that promote feelings of belonging and connectedness.

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