Table Of ContentThe Palgrave Handbook of
Embodiment and Learning
Edited by
Anja Kraus · Christoph Wulf
The Palgrave Handbook of Embodiment
and Learning
“In the Anthropocene, a time when the fate of the planet is determined largely by
humans, it has become difficult to differentiate between nature and culture. There is
hardly any nature remaining that has not been impacted by humans. In view of this,
the body - the place where nature and culture meet - is becoming increasingly impor-
tant for human identity, our understanding of humanity and the processes by which
we live and learn. In our bodies, nature and culture are inextricably interwoven. The
body is a clear manifestation of what all human beings have in common, what is dif-
ferent because of culture and what is individual and unique. This is why processes of
embodiment and learning are so important both for society and the individual. In the
cultural and social sciences, and also in the natural, technological and life sciences,
this insight is now widely accepted. This handbook contains contributions by schol-
ars from a variety of academic backgrounds who use different scientific paradigms to
examine diverse processes of embodiment and learning. Main references are theoreti-
cal and empirical approaches of philosophy, historical anthropology and cultural or
social anthropology. In the processes of embodiment and learning, the senses, the
emotions and practical knowledge come into their own. Education is seen as the
development of the whole person. The handbook makes an important contribution
especially to the advancement of educational practice.”
Anja Kraus • Christoph Wulf
Editors
The Palgrave
Handbook of
Embodiment and
Learning
Editors
Anja Kraus Christoph Wulf
Department of Teaching and Learning Anthropology and Education
(Ämnesdidaktik) Freie Universität Berlin
Stockholms universitet Berlin, Germany
Stockholm, Sweden
ISBN 978-3-030-93000-4 ISBN 978-3-030-93001-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93001-1
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the
whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or
information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does
not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective
laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are
believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors
give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions
that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Thomas Aichinger / VWPics / Alamy Stock Photo
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
Introduction: Embodiment—A Challenge for Learning and
Education 1
Anja Kraus and Christoph Wulf
Part I Philosophical and Historical Underpinnings 19
Promoting Embodiment Through Education in the Anthropocene 23
Renaud Hétier and Nathanaël Wallenhorst
Embodiment Through Mimetic Learning 39
Christoph Wulf
Awareness as a Challenge: Learning Through Our Bodies on a
Planet in Crisis 61
Mariagrazia Portera
Building Blocks of a Historical Overview of ‘Tacit Knowledge’ 75
Kristina Brümmer, Thomas Alkemeyer, and Robert Mitchell
The Antinomies of Pedagogy and Aporias of Embodiment: A
Historical and Phenomenological Investigation 91
Norm Friesen
v
vi Contents
Embodied Cognition: A Methodological and Pedagogical
Interpretation 107
Christian Rittelmeyer
Part II The Pedagogical Relationship and Professionalism 129
Knowledge of Pathos 133
Shoko Suzuki
Pedagogical Tact: Reconstruction of a Bodily Moment of the
Pedagogical Relationship 145
Anja Kraus and Thomas Senkbeil
Gestures in the Classroom 163
Regula Fankhauser and Angela Kaspar
Vulnerability: A Basic Concept of Pedagogical Anthropology 179
Daniel Burghardt and Jörg Zirfas
Pedagogical Relationships as Relationships of Power 193
Kathrin Audehm
Part III Body, Sociality and Learning 209
The Performativity of Learning 213
Birgit Althans
The Embodied Other: Mimetic-Empathic Encorporations 229
Léonard Loew
The Embodiment of Gender in Childhood 245
Anja Tervooren
The Adult-Child Co-existence: Asymmetry, Emotions, Upbringing 259
Tatiana Shchyttsova
Contents vii
Alterity and Emotions: Heterogeneous Learning Conditions and
Embodiment 277
Anja Kraus
Part IV Body, Space and Learning 291
Movement and Touch: Why Bodies Matter 295
Gabriele Klein
Like Water Between One’s Hands: Embodiment of Time and the
Ephemeral of Dance 311
Gabriele Brandstetter
Materiality and Spatiality of Bodily Learning 325
Arnd-Michael Nohl and Morvarid Götz-Dehnavi
Body-Related Learning Processes in Museums 341
Bernd Wagner
Part V Body, Virtual Reality and Mindfulness 355
Technical Mediation of Children’s Onlife Worlds 357
Michalis Kontopodis and Kristiina Kumpulainen
Creative and Artistic Learning in Post- digital Youth Culture:
Results of a Qualitative Study on Transformations of Aesthetic
Practices 367
Benjamin Jörissen, Martha Karoline Schröder, and Anna Carnap
Mind the Body: Mindfulness Meditation as a Spiritual Practice
Between Neuroscience, Therapy and Self-awareness 383
Andreas Nehring
Part VI Classroom Practices 403
The Role of Bodily Experience for Learning Designs 407
Staffan Selander
viii Contents
Mathematics Learning: Structured Ways of Moving With 419
Nathalie Sinclair and Eva Jablonka
Social Choreographies in Primary School Education 437
Cornelie Dietrich and Valerie Riepe
On the (In)Visibility of Postcolonial Subjectivation: Educational
Videography Research in Glocalised Classrooms 457
Juliane Engel and Cristina Diz Muñoz
Music as an Embodied Learning Experience 479
Tiago de Oliveira Pinto
Part VII Bodies in Times of Glocalizations 501
Embodiment of the Values System in Indigenous African Society 505
Michael Omolewa and Adetola Adejo
Embodiment in Education in the Islamic World 519
Reza Arjmand
The Body in Education: Conceptions and Dimensions in Brazil
and Latin America 541
Karina Limonta Vieira
Cultivating a Gentle Body: A Chinese Perspective 561
Hongyan Chen
The Body and the Possibility of an Ethical Experience of
Education: A Perspective from South Asia 577
Srajana Kaikini
Notes on Contributors
Adetola Adejo is an assistant lecturer and a PhD student in the Department
of History and International Studies at Babcock University, Nigeria. Her
research interests focus on food politics, food security and climate change
with reference to their impact on states’ relations.
Thomas Alkemeyer is Professor of Sociology and Sociology of Sport at the
Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. His main research
interests are sociological theories of practice, sociology of the body and of
sport, subjectivation research and cultural analysis of the present.
Birgit Althans received her doctorate in 1998 with “Der Klatsch, die Frauen
und das Sprechen bei der Arbeit” (Campus 2000). From 2000 to 2008 she
was a research assistant to Prof. Christoph Wulf at the Free University of
Berlin in the Department of Anthropology and Education/General Pedagogy
and in the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) “Cultures of the Performative”. In
2005 she received Habilitation with “Masked Desire. Female Social Reformers
between Social Work and Management” (Campus 2007) from the Freie
Universität (FU) Berlin. Since 2018 she is Professor of Pedagogy at the
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her research interests include pedagogical and
historical anthropology, gender and cultural studies, early management his-
tory and organisational theory and qualitative methods.
Reza Arjmand is Associate Professor of Education at Linnæus University,
Sweden. He has written extensively on Islamic education and everyday life of
Muslims. His recent publications include “Sexuality and Concealment among
Iranian Young Women” (Sexualities, 2019); “Ephemeral Space Sanctification
and Trespassing Gender Boundaries in a Muslim City” (Storia Urbana, 2019);
ix
x Notes on Contributors
Handbook of Islamic Education (2018) and Public Urban Space, Gender and
Segregation: Women-Only Urban Parks in Iran (2017).
Kathrin Audehm is Professor of Pedagogy with a focus on education and
heterogeneity at the University of Cologne, Germany. Her main areas of work
are ethnographical and theoretical research on performative practices, on
authority and power relations in the field of education, the interferences
between socialization and habitualization and gender constructions in popu-
lar culture.
Gabriele Brandstetter is Professor of Theatre and Dance Studies at Freie
Universität Berlin, Germany, Director of the Center of Movement Studies
(ZfB) and Co-director of the International Research Center “Interweaving
Performance Cultures”. Her research focus is on history and aesthetics of
dance from the eighteenth century until today; theatre and dance of the
avant-garde; contemporary theatre and dance, performance, theatricality and
gender differences; and concepts of body, movement and image.
Kristina Brümmer is a research assistant in the working group “Sociology
and the Sociology of Sports” of the Institute of Sport Science at the Carl von
Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. Her research focuses on pro-
cesses of subjectivation, coordination and learning in high-performance team
sport. She works with sociological theories of practice, knowledge, technology
and the body as well as methods from qualitative social research (especially
ethnography, videography and interviews).
Daniel Burghardt is a Professor of Educational Science with a focus on
inequality and social education at the University Innsbruck, Austria. His main
areas of work are pedagogical anthropology, pedagogical theory of space and
critical pedagogy.
Anna Carnap is an education researcher and a lecturer at the Friedrich-
Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Humboldt University
of Berlin, Germany. Her research interest is dedicated to the intertwining
relation of situated practice, the visible and the sayable, society and its change.
Her researches had yet taken place in the fields of school, social media
and gender.
Hongyan Chen is an associate professor at the Institute of International and
Comparative Education, East China Normal University, China, and Director
of the Intercultural Education and Communication Research Center. She
obtained her PhD from the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She is the
principal investigator of the National Project “Educational Ritual and the
