Bodies: A Digital Companion Main Menu Why the Body? an introduction to the digital companion Embodiment key concept Cultural Norm key concept Bodily Difference key concept Stigma key concept Intersectionality key concept Body Image Dr. Kristin Novotny, Professor COR 240-04/05 Spectral and Invisible Bodies Dr. Veruska Cantelli, Assistant Professor Visibility / Invisibility / Hypervisibility Alice Neiley, Adjunct Professor Radical Awakening Faith Yacubian, Assistant Professor Paleo Erik Shonstrom, Assistant Professor Borderlands Dr. Patricia DeRocher Walking Dr. Katheryn Wright, Associate Professor (COR-240-03) The Posthuman Dr. Katheryn Wright, Associate Professor Methodologies This page contains links to short explanations of the different methodologies used to understand bodies and embodiment. The Body Project overview of the common assignment Acknowledgements a list of contributors to 'Bodies: A Digital Companion'

Walking: Introduction and Contents

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"Walking...is how the body measures itself against the earth." - Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust

 

A baby's first steps, hiking Mt. Mansfield, a protest march, and Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind all have in common the act of walking. It seems so simple and natural, which may be why the cultural significance of walking is often ignored. Dr. Wright's focus section "Bodies: Walking" will consider why we walk, and how the cultural history of walking intersects with our understanding of bodies in the past and present.

The simple act of walking is one of the primary ways we, as humans, come to know our own bodies. It is also how we come to know our communities and environments, the followed and unfollowed paths that become the worlds we inhabit. As you will discover, our class on walking will ask you to reconsider the meaning of place. Landscapes are made and remade through our bodies walking within them.

"Bodies: Walking" (click on link to access the syllabus on Google Docs) begins by examining the walk as embodied experience. We will focus on the connection between walking and key concepts central to understanding the body: mind-body dualism, embodiment, intersectionality, physical difference, cultural norm, and stigma. We will consider these five key concepts in relation to both the art and technology of walking. We will dig into the historical contexts of walking by looking at the pilgrimage, the nature walk, and walking the city. We will also examine walking practices in the late 20th and early 21st century with an eye - or foot?! - towards understanding the power dynamics that enable certain bodies to walk freely, to occupy certain spaces, or to control the paths they take, while others cannot. We will do several experiential workshops like making a walking map of Champlain College's campus, going on a Haiku walk, wandering through the woods, and brainstorming about possible walking-based video games and apps. You will work in groups to make your own narrative walking map using your own phenomenological research as a starting point.

Required materials include a copy of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, access to a smartphone, and a good pair of walking shoes! The remainder of your required readings/screenings are available as content links to this page. Check out the syllabus for specific due dates.
 

This page has paths:

  1. Walking Katheryn Wright

Contents of this path:

  1. Why the Body?
  2. Embodiment
  3. Rebecca Solnit, Ch. 1 "Tracing a Headland: An Introduction" from Wanderlust
  4. Henry David Thoreau, "Walking" (1862)
  5. The Body Project
  6. Sacred Journeys
  7. Bobby Seal, "Baudelaire, Benjamin and the Birth of the Flâneur" (2013)
  8. Le Flâneur: Benjamins Shadow
  9. Guy Debord, “Theory of the Dérive” (1956)
  10. Wrights & Sites, "A Manifesto for a New Walking Culture" (2005)
  11. Judith Butler, "Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street" in eipcp, 2011
  12. Examined Life - Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor
  13. "Refugee Republic" (2012)
  14. Rachel Kolb, "The Deaf Body in Public Space" (2016)
  15. Fred Kent, "Fear, Isolation, and Public Space" (2004)
  16. Kayla Renee Parker, "Black Women vs. White Men in Public Spaces: A Crosswalk Experiment and Relevance" (2017)
  17. Michel Foucault, "Docile Bodies" in The Foucault Reader (1991)
  18. Macat Analysis of Foucault's Discipline and Punish
  19. Joseph Amato, On Foot (2004)
  20. "Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture" (2015)
  21. Heels vs. Footbinding: Julie Bertrand at TEDxMontrealWomen

Contents of this tag:

  1. Tom Shakespeare, "The Social Model of Disability" (2006)
  2. Kenny Cupers, "Walking as DIY Urbanism" (2004)
  3. Charles Henry Alston, "Walking" (1958)
  4. Walking Artists Network
  5. Erin Wayman, "Becoming Human: The Evolution of Walking Upright" (2012)
  6. Historical Body Mechanics: Walk Medieval!
  7. Augusto Boal, Games for Actors and Non-Actors (1992)
  8. The Ten List: Walk as Art
  9. Rachel Jones, "Art Review: 'Interpose,' New City Galerie" (2017)
  10. Karen Offen, "The History of Feminism is a Political History" (2011)