99741 - Body Cultures.

Learning outcomes

The models that have historically characterized the body culture in its different expressions, have also significantly influenced the ideas of gender, education and forms of social life. The course aims to present some important contributions on which the cultures of the body have developed and how it produced changes in physical and aesthetic education, and in ideas of wellbeing

Course contents

The course is aimed at researching and discussing key words and body practices useful for the well-being and balance of the individual and the community.

The body is understood as a tool of relationship, as a place of seeking presence and centering, of relating to others and the natural and urban environment, in a constant and dynamic focus, as a cultural object.

The suggestion of a search for a dictionary of the body, creative, collective and individual, passes through the encounter with alphabets and atlases of gestures and movements, with reference to knowledge such as experiential anatomy, acrobatic knowledge, and symbolic narratives capable of generating new ways and imaginaries of being in the body and space, toward a renewed global responsibility and responsivity.

The cultural discourse on the body is observed and researched, nurtured and discussed, through encounters with literary references, protagonists of the cultures and practices of the body, communal dance and gesture research, images and stories capable of showing the metaphorical and physical richness inherent in every movement, in every conscious silence or in the search for a physical presence that becomes a capacity to contribute to the collective discourse.

Readings/Bibliography

One basic reference book:

Ann Cooper Albright, How to land. Finding ground in an unstable world, Oxford University Press, 2020

Video and web references to prepare will be all uploaded in the Virtuale Platform referring to the following contents:

The Child and the Body in picture books: a presentation by Marcella Terrusi

Meeting an Cooper Albright, a video lecture

Atlas of gestures of Virgilio Sieni, article and videos

Andrea Olsen, Body and Earth: Seven Web-Based Somatic Excursions

Experiential anatomy with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

Luca Silvestrini's Protein, Community Dance

Blind dance, inclusion and movement

Leggere mossi, video on movement with children on picture books suggestions, by Muvet

 

Teaching methods

The course will include a dialogic setting, aimed at encouraging self-reflection and elaboration of suggestions and experiences. In class, topics related to the body will be discussed, including in relation to the experience of pandemic social distancing and other significant moments in education, video and web content will be screened, illustrated albums will be read and commented on, but outdoor and online seminar meetings will also be offered with the presence of guests, practitioners of different aspects of body research, in practical theoretical meetings directed toward the creation of group experiences in relation to the environment aimed at fostering well-being, empowerment, and reflection on the body as a tool for relationship and political action on the world.

Assessment methods

At the end of the course, the student will take an oral interview with the lecturer.

In particular, he/she will choose 3 key words related to body cultures and practices, useful for recounting and especially linking together the main acquisitions and discoveries encountered during the course.

The interview will focus on the presentation of these 3 terms of choice, presented in the timely reference to the scientific bibliography and discussion of the volumes indicated in the bibliography and with reference to the dictionary of the body, collective, which will be constructed during the course.

Teaching tools

The lecturer provides on the Virtual platform web content, videos, and presentations useful for students to prepare for the exam. She also offers guest lecturer meetings during classes, physically present during outdoor seminars or electronically: to give an example, these range from dance to acrobatic knowledge, from experiential anatomy to the Alexander method.

Office hours

See the website of Marcella Terrusi