Emotions: Connecting with the Missing Body

Liv Kondrup Kristensen, Kathrin Otrel-Cass

    Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Observing science classroom activities presents an opportunity to observe the emotional aspect of interactions, and this chapter presents how this can be done and why. Drawing on ideas proposed by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, emotions are theorized as publicly embodied enactments, where differences in behavior between people shape emotional responses. Merleau-Ponty’s theorization of the body and feelings is connected to embodiment while examining central concepts such as consciousness and perception. Merleau-Ponty describes what he calls the emotional atmosphere and how it shapes the ways we experience events and activities. We use our interpretation of his understanding of emotions to examine an example of a group of year 8 science students who were engaged in a physics activity. Using the analytical framework of analyzing bodily stance by Goodwin, Cekaite, and Goodwin, this chapter presents worked vignettes of analyzed episodes, where we examine talk, voice (prosody), and embodiment contextualized in the physical environment where those activities took place. These examinations are related back to Merleau-Ponty’s thinking to propose a possible way forward to analyzing emotions.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationExploring Emotions, Aesthetics and Wellbeing in Science Education Research
    EditorsAlberto Bellocchi, Cassie Quigley, Kathrin Otrel-Cass
    PublisherSpringer
    Publication date2017
    Pages165-185
    ISBN (Print)978-3-319-43351-6
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-43353-0
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017
    SeriesCultural Studies of Science Education
    Volume13
    ISSN1879-7229

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