Browsing by Subject "embodiment"

Previous research has shown that colonization had profound impacts on precolonial Indigenous communities in North America. From the first contact, the explorers’ perception was colored by Eurocentric ideas rooted in European social systems, religion, cultures, and values, which called into question the moral worth and very humanity of Indigenous peoples. In Canada, colonialism introduced Indigenous peoples with a new social order, including new political, social, cultural, and economic structures, as well as a new stigmatized Indigenous identity, which became foundational for subsequent laws, policies, and institutional practices that aimed to erase those very elements deemed problematic. In Canada, Indigenous people have since colonization persistently suffered from poorer health compared to settler and more recent immigrant populations. Research points to both proximal and distal determinants behind the disparities documented in Indigenous health, and suggests that along with contemporary socioeconomic conditions, the distal factors of colonialism, virgin soil epidemics, and policies of subjugation and assimilation have been traumatic and have contributed negatively to the contemporary Indigenous population’s health. This research thesis is located in the field of medical anthropology and examines health, illness, and healing as culturally shaped, personal, embodied, and shared experiences, meanings, and illness realities. The theory used this thesis rests on an embodied meaning-centered approach of illness, which suggests that elements from the psychobiological, sociocultural, symbolic, political, and historical experiential realms blend to form a network of meanings for a sufferer, an embodied experience of an illness world that is shared as part of a community. Situated in the context of colonial history and present health disparities, the research questions of this thesis center on discovering major themes of embodied experiences and meanings of health, illness, and healing in an urban Indigenous community. Altogether eight weeks of daily ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in an Indigenous urban community in Vancouver, Canada, in the spring of 2017. The data for this thesis consisted of fieldnotes, ten individual interviews and one group interview, taped public speeches, photographs, and videos. A thematic analysis identified six significant categories of embodied meanings and experiences of health, illness, and healing in community narratives: colonization and colonialisms, colonization traumas, structural violence, survivance and resilience, reconciliation, and healing with culture. This thesis establishes that colonization and various colonialisms with policies of subjugation and assimilation are seen by community members as profoundly traumatic events with negative impacts on health that persist intergenerationally to this day. Collective memories of colonization and colonialisms inform what it once meant to be healthy, how communities became sick, and how they can become healthy again. Due to contemporary experiences of structural violence and racism, Indigenous community members continue to experience Canada as an enduring colonial space. Healing for community members is achieved by decolonizing minds from the once stigmatized identities introduced by colonization and by reindigenizing their world through reintroducing the original cultures and cultural identities back into their daily practices and healing their perceptions of the self.

This thesis focuses on the understandings of the body among contemporary dancers in the western post-modern scene. In doing so, it aims to describe the ways contemporary dancers experience thinking, mind language and agency in their bodies. Further, the aim of this thesis is to understand how this affects experiences of self and being. Examining ethnographical examples and the discussions on the body-mind relations, this thesis endeavours to further the understanding of experienced relationships between body, mind and thinking in the West. Additionally it looks at the ways through which embodied knowledge is produced, shared, and evaluated among contemporary dancers. As such, it takes a critical stance towards dualistic notions of mind and body; rational and sensed; culture and nature. In this thesis, contemporary dancers are approached as a professional category. The ethnographic data was gathered during a two and a half month fieldwork period in Berlin in the summer 2021. The fieldwork comprised of participant observation in rehearsals, festivals, workshops and weekly professional dance classes, supplemented by seven semi-structured interviews with contemporary dance artists. The field notes and interviews were accompanied by auto-ethnographic description. Further, importance for the authotrs own bodily experience and understanding was granted in building analytical understanding The theoretical framework of this thesis draws from phenomenology, discussions of body and mind, and theories of personhood. Phenomenological discussions and theories of bodily practice and sensorial anthropology are used to examine how information is embodied in dance practices, and how the idea of embodied knowledge is constructed and shared. The ethnographical evidence suggests that contemporary dancers use strategies of embodiment to articulate, transmit, and integrate meaning and language. In the second part of the analysis, the focus lies on the experiences and conceptualizations of body, mind, thinking and their relations. The experiential concept of “observing while doing” is described and discussed. Finally, this thesis considers what kinds of notions of self, personhood and agency are attained in the experience of dancing. Here, theories on dividual subjects are used to examine ethnographical findings. The analysis and ethnographical evidence in this thesis suggest that the experience of a dancing body is multiple and can be altered using strategies of embodiment. The multiplicity of the body, as well as the multiplicities of thinking and mind, are sensed through somatic modes of attention. Further, the expansion of experiential understandings of the body has led to conceptual multiplicity of the body and mind. Finally, this thesis argues that the dancing subjects are dividual in the way that their experiences and expressions are constituted by distinct embodied knowledges from their training, education, dance work, and other environments. The findings of this thesis call for reflection of the body-mind relation and notions of thinking in the West, utilizing knowledge produced by contemporary dancers attending specific perceptual awareness and notions of bodily knowledge and thinking in their work.

The present study is part of Handling Mind: Embodiment, Design and Creativity research project. This study has two main goals: 1) to shed light on the participants' opinions of an experiment they participated and 2) to map their problem solving strategies used in different clay forming task. As the latest previous research has suggested in addition to the cognitive aspects, problem solving in design and crafts has embodied side too, that is, for example, related to the interaction with materials and tools. Both sides of problem solving are discussed in the present study. Thirty participants from various fields of design participated drawing and clay forming experiment and were interviewed afterwards using stimulated recall method. In the experiment the participants performed three types of tasks: copying, design and free improvisation. Fifteen of the interviews were transcript and analyzed using content analysis. The results show that the experiment situation was a positive or at least neutral situation to fourteen out of fifteen participants. In the copying and design tasks problem solving was related to finding a quick and suitable technique to perform the task, whereas in the free improvisation tasks techniques were more experimental and clay material was a source of inspiration to many of the participants. There are some things to consider from the participants point of view, when planning new experiments, such as the timing, repetition of the same tasks and the total length of the experiment. In clay forming tasks, problem solving is strongly connected to the material, which shows the importance of the embodied side of problem solving. Setting or redefining goals and choosing working strategies are examples of the cognitive side of problem solving.

Kehollinen oppimiskäsitys syntyi tietoteoreettisen murroksen seurauksena nk. kehollisessa käänteessä. Kehollisen käänteen mukaan aivoja ei voi erottaa muusta kehosta, sillä kognitio syntyy ihmisen ja ympäristön vuorovaikutuksessa. Kehollisessa oppimisessa on kyse koko kehon huomioimisesta ja kuuntelusta. Kehon näkyvien liikkeiden lisäksi korostetaan aistimuksia, kokemuksia ja tunteita. Oppiminen on tämän oppimiskäsityksen mukaan lähtökohtaisesti kehollista. Tästä huolimatta kirjallisuudessa kehollisella oppimisella viitataan toisinaan ainoastaan opetusmenetelmiin. Tutkimukset osoittavat, että kehollinen oppiminen auttaa kielen oppimista. Valtaosa tutkimuksista keskittyy kuitenkin aikuisten sanavaraston kartuttamiseen vieraalla tai toisella kielellä. Toinen kieli on ensikielen jälkeen opittu kieli, joka omaksutaan siinä ympäristössä, jossa sitä puhutaan. Tutkimustieto kehollisen oppimisen hyödyistä on vaikuttanut hitaasti kielen opetukseen. Tässä tutkielmassa selvitetään, millä tavoin kehollista oppimista on tutkittu toisen kielen opetuksessa lapsilla ja nuorilla. Lisäksi tutkielmassa tuodaan esille, mitä kehollisen oppimisen muotoja tutkimuksissa on käytetty ja minkälaisia empiirisiä tuloksia niissä on saatu. Tutkielma on narratiivinen kirjallisuuskatsaus. Aineiston yhdeksän artikkelia on julkaistu Suomessa, Ruotsissa, Ranskassa, Kanadassa, Saksassa, Taiwanissa ja Kiinassa vuosina 2018–2023. Aineiston analyysissä on käytetty sisällönanalyysiä, jossa on hyödynnetty aiemman tutkimuksen mukaista luokittelua. Katsaus osoitti, että kvantitatiivisissa tutkimuksissa on mitattu opetusintervention vaikutusta oppimistuloksiin, kun taas kvalitatiivisissa tutkimuksissa on havainnoitu, millä tavoin oppimisympäristö ja -menetelmä vaikuttavat kielitaidon kehitykseen. Kieltä ja kielenoppimista on lähestytty monista näkökulmista, ei vain sanavaraston kartuttamisen kautta. Aineistossa kaikki neljä Nathanin (2022) kehollisen oppimisen muotoa ovat edustettuina eli kehollisen oppimisen ilmiötä on tutkittu monipuolisesti. Katsauksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että kehollisella oppimisella on myönteisiä vaikutuksia kielen oppimiseen. Toisen kielen opetuksessa on perusteltua suhtautua kielitaitoon laajana käsitteenä. Kielellisen repertuaarin oppiminen tai opettaminen edellyttää koko kehon huomioon ottamista.

Abstract: Aims and objectives: Resilience is linked to better health, mental health and coping at work. Thus, there is use for a high-quality resilience assessment method, as better ways of assessing resilience and a better understanding of the phenomenon could help people to identify their strengths and to develop their weaknesses. This master’s thesis aimed to examine the relationships between the developed Sisu-resilience questionnaire and its subcategories, the psychophysiological variables measured during the laboratory study designed for perseverance assessment, performance in six tasks used in the laboratory study and overall performance in the laboratory study. Due to the novelty of the experimental design, precisely directed hypotheses were not at the epicentre of the thesis. This thesis is part of the Sisu-questionnaire validation project and in the general part of resilience research. Methods: There were 54 test subjects (47 women) in the laboratory phase of the study. The subjects were university students with a mean age of 26.0 years. The experiment consisted of six different tasks for measuring perseverance, which the subjects performed using the instructions given. Of all the psychophysiological variables measured during the experiment, measures of electrodermal activity and facial electromyography were used in this thesis. Electrodermal activity is considered to reflect sympathetic activation. Measures of facial electromyography are connected to emotional valence. Subjects had completed various personality and health assessment questionnaires and the Sisu-questionnaire before to the laboratory study. Results: During the laboratory study, tonic skin conductance of those with more beneficial sisu was lower vis-à-vis those with less beneficial sisu. Beneficial sisu was also associated with better performance in the handgrip endurance task. Tonic and phasic skin conductance of those with more harmful sisu were lower compared to those with less harmful sisu, but the links between harmful sisu and skin conductance were focused only around its “harm to others” subcategory. Beneficial sisu was not associated with positive emotion during the laboratory study. Positive emotion was assessed by orbicularis oculi -activation. Conclusion: The association between higher beneficial sisu and lower sympathetic activation indicates that the questionnaire reaches some property of the nervous system, and it is in line with previous research. Unlike harmful sisu, none of the subcategories of beneficial sisu were associated with phasic skin conductance, which can be interpreted to tell about the independent explanatory power of harmful sisu. The link between better performance in the handgrip task and more beneficial sisu could indicate more beneficial sisu leading to adaptive stress management. Given the widely-known connection between positive emotion and resilience, it is surprising that beneficial sisu was not associated with positive emotion during any subtasks.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kuvailla opettajan ja oppilaan välistä vuorovaikutusta käsityötunnilla. Aihetta on tutkittu suhteellisen vähän. Aiemmat tutkimukset osoittavat, että käsityö on lähtökohtaisesti vuorovaikutteinen oppiaine, ja että käsityön oppiminen ei ole mahdollista ilman vuorovaikutusta.Erityisen tärkeää käsityötaidon opetuksessa ja oppimisessa ovat opettajan keholliset vihjeet. Tutkimus keskittyykin opetustilanteen kehollisiin ulottuvuuksiin. Kehollisuutta vuorovaikutuksessa lähestytään sosiokulttuurisesta näkökulmasta. Tutkimuskysymykset muotoutuivat aineiston ja teorian vuorovaikutuksessa. Aineistosta erottui kolme teemaa, joiden perusteella tutkimuskysymykset muodostuivat: 1. Millä tavoin opettajan ja oppilaan vuorovaikutus rakentuu opetustilanteessa? 2. Millä tavoin kehollisuus ilmenee vaatteen valmistusprosessissa? 3. Millä tavoin fyysiset materiaalit ja työvälineet välittävät tietoa? Tutkimus toteutettiin videografisena tutkimuksena. Videoaineisto kerättiin vaiheittain keväällä 2013 pääkaupunkiseudun peruskoulussa. Tutkimukseen videoitiin yhdeksää seitsemäsluokkalaista tyttöä ja heidän opettajaansa käsityötunneilla. Aineistoa kertyi 4 tuntia ja 52 minuuttia. Aineiston analyysiin sovellettiin tulkinnallista lähestymistapaa, jossa korostuu sosiaalisten tilanteiden merkitysten rakentuminen ja tutkijan tulkinta tapahtumista. Tulosten esittämisessä sovelletaan keskustelunanalyyttisiä menetelmiä puheen litteroinnissa. Litterointia tukevat kuvat. Opettajan ja oppilaan välinen vuorovaikutus opetustilanteessa on todellista parityöskentelyä kohti yhteisymmärrystä. Tuloksissa kuvaillaan millä tavoin opettaja havainnollistaa opetettavaa asiaa eleillään sekä miten opettajan ja oppilaan kehot rakentavat yhteistä osallistumisen kehikkoa. Opettajan eleiden käyttö on erityisen tärkeää toimittaessa oppilaan lähikehityksen vyöhykkeellä. Tuloksissa osoitetaan myös miten oppilas osoittaa ymmärrystä kehollaan sekä millä tavoin käsityöluokan työvälineet välittävät kulttuurista tietoa.