Embodied Pedagogy In The Study of Religion

This round table panel engages the complex topic of embodied pedagogy in the academic study of religion. It is animated by a concern that one of the more basic goals of the academic study of religion, namely developing “informed understandings of belief systems and worldviews” other than students’ own, is not possible if that understanding is only engaged as the process of a disembodied subject. In response to this problem, this panel gathers a group of scholar-teachers who cultivate bodily experience in the classroom. Panelists will discuss their pedagogical practices, including the underlying assumptions and concerns that guide them, and will debate the benefits, challenges, and risks of engaging the body and bodily practices in the the classroom. While their approaches and personal pedagogical commitments differ, these scholar-teachers are committed to engaging bodily experience in the service of shaping more thoughtful and religiously literate students.