Out of the Body, Onto the Page: Awakening the Role of the Body in Writing and Practical Applications of Embodied Composition

Author

Jasmine JacksonFollow

Defense Date

11-4-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Degree Name

Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media

First Advisor

Kelly Concannon, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Molly Scanlon, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Juliette Kitchens, Ph.D.

Keywords

embodied composition, embodied writing, embodiment, movement, writing classroom, yoga

Abstract

Academic writing courses privilege a style of learning that often excludes the awareness of the body. In this thesis, I propose an exploration of the role of the body as an active agent in the writing process. This thesis collates and queries research on embodiment to provide what a sample of embodiment theory and writing activities that facilitate embodiment in the classroom might look like by bringing in interdisciplinary studies to help fill the gap of research on embodied composition in the field.

In doing so this thesis argues in favor of an embodied approach to composition and is supported by the principles of yoga to create bodily awareness through physical movement and reflective writing prompts to encourage writers to consider writing an embodied act as a means of characterizing different identities. This thesis also provides insight into the growing role of embodiment in writing studies and acknowledges the intuitive intelligence of student bodies in the writing classroom.

NSUWorks Citation

Jasmine Jackson. 2022. Out of the Body, Onto the Page: Awakening the Role of the Body in Writing and Practical Applications of Embodied Composition. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (123)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcas_etd_all/123.