The Possibilities of Embodied Pedagogy: Privileging the Body in Education through an Africanist and Indigenous Lens

Embodied pedagogy is a way of facilitating lessons which use the body as a locos of learning. Through a practice of storytelling, reflection, and imagination, embodied pedagogy evokes enactment and a release of emotions. This qualitative narrative study created multimodal portraits of embodied educators in the Newark Board of Education using the lens of Native Science and Ubuntu as epistemological frameworks. Using portraiture methodology, the lives of embodied educators were documented and reported in multimodal ways. The study is divided into three phases representing Ubuntu's ontotriadic structure. The African philosophy of Ubuntu ("I am because you are") centers community and recognizes the harmonious flow of life through three stages of existence (living dead-ancestors, living, yet to be born) and sees life as continuous motion. The three primary participants mirrored these three phases. The living dead was an ancestor, a deceased educator, and a dancer. The living is a current Newark teacher, and the yet-to-be-born is a preservice teacher (to be licensed). Their portraits were supported by interviews with secondary participants (colleagues, administrators, former students, cooperating teachers, family, and friends). Data were collected through interviews and observations. Portraiture methodology combines art and science to blend empiricism and aestheticism; the audience responds by being pulled into the narrative to experience the story as it unfolds. The portraits in this study function as art by exploring the physical context of the setting and illuminating the relationship between the researcher and participants. Each portrait is a beautiful, evocative, deep, compelling story of what is good and shines light on those aspects rather than on what is wrong and trying to right those wrongs. To actualize a full embodied experience, data analysis, and reporting included letter writing, poetry, visual art, movement phrases, song composition, and spoken word. The findings revealed the power of these collective stories, revealed through six themes and lessons learned that inform urban teacher preparation programs. The narratives demonstrate the importance of supporting students in their journey of becoming and recognizing the humanity in teachers and students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]