Corporality and embodiment constitute the basic prerequisites for all social and therefore also pedagogical acting. Contrary to a rationalistic-cognitivist reduction of pedagogical reality to countable phenomena or steerable procedures, the focus on the corporal dimension of educational interactions considering the sensually perceptible and perceiving lived body as decisive expressive medium gives more profound insights into dimensions constituting pedagogical realities (including corporally conveyed meanings, atmospheres, tension, estimation, disregard etc.). The consideration of the lived body as fundamental requisite for the constitution and construction, representation and reproduction of pedagogical structures provides insights into sources of instructional problems and of pedagogical success.

Concepts such as embodied knowledge (Merleau-Ponty 1966, Husserl 1986)referring to the human body as pathic phenomenon knowing how to do things without intellectual control of this knowledge, Bourdieu’s (1999) conception of habitus, i.e. an incorporated, prereflexive corporal-intentional knowledge as ‘practical sense’ for the coping with social situations, the understanding of sensing as decisive orientation pattern in life-world situations (Pothast 1998, p. 80ff) or Ryles’ (1969) outlines of what he calls knowing how (contrary to ‘knowing what’) make clear that there exists a form of knowledge situated within the human body. These forms of incorporated knowledge, of corporal requisite and inventory and the investigation of how they are used in pedagogic settings allow for a deeper and more differentiated understanding of how pedagogical sense emerges and constitutes dimensions of learning and teaching.

In this symposium the significance of corporally conveyed meanings and the impact this dimension has on ‘doing education’ shall be presented. The methodological approach to corporal expressions of the presentations are  oriented towards phenomenological and sociological theoretical assumptions: The analyses presented in this symposium take into account that all human acting is per se corporeal acting and that the lived body constitutes the basic category of social - and therefore also of pedagogical - realities.

The contributions of this symposium will demonstrate how the body and the lived body are involved in educational and instructional acting and discuss questions such as:

How are contents visualized or practices demonstrated corporally?

How is social order established corporally in instructional situations?

How does corporal communication affect the relationship between the participants of educational settings?

How do corporal expressions create specific atmospheres?

The presenters will outline their specific methodical and methodological approach to corporality which represents a considerable challenge for this research, and their comprehensive empirical analyses shall give insights into this crucial but still rather neglected focus of interest: The significance of the corporeal constitution of sense in pedagogical acting.

Bibliography

Bourdieu, P. (1999): Sozialer Sinn. Kritik der theoretischen Vernunft. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp

Husserl, E. (1986): Die Idee der Phänomenologie. Hrsg. v. Paul Janssen. Meiner, Hamburg

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1966): Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung. Berlin: de Gruyter

Pothast, U. (1998): Lebendige Vernünftigkeit. Zur Vorbereitung eines menschenangemessenen Konzepts. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp

Ryle, G. (1969): Der Begriff des Geistes. Ditzingen: Reclam