Bodyography as Activism in Qualitative Inquiry: The Bodies Collective at ECQI19

Abstract

If activism is an act of challenging marginalization and hierarchy, The Bodies Collective works to challenge the hierarchy between “mind” and “body” inherent in much academic discourse, and can be witnessed in the conference space. We do this, not through forming another hierarchical structure, but from within—through invitation and inviting those who may be labeled as “participant” to become a leader within each workshop presented. This is the act of activism that The 2019 European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ECQI19) invited. In this article, we discuss how The Bodies Collective’s contributions to ECQI can be seen as activism. We describe our contribution, a workshop, and provide examples of feedback from those involved. Finally, we show some of the challenges we have encountered and conclude with looking toward the future.

Keywords

Bodies Collective bodyography autonomous pedagogy activism flattened hierarchies

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