How and Why Notions of Body and Bodyfulness Matter: Part 3 of Toward Better Why’s & What’s of Physical Education
This is Part 3 of a series on moving toward better WHY’s and WHAT’s of Physical Education. For a very condensed, basic recap of the series, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
In Part 1, I argued that Physical Education is too often ineffective and impotent, as it too often begins with incoherent and narrowly conceived WHY’s and WHAT’s.
In Part 2, I attempted to articulate what I believe are better WHY’s and WHAT’s that provide not only a compelling vision for Education and Physical Education, but a coherent one.
In this Final Part (3), I attempt to explore the political dimensions and implications of the notions of Body and Bodyfulness.
How Bodyfulness and PE can help make Democracy more possible
Given everything I’ve said up this point, an important question may need to be considered: what are the benefits of Bodyfulness/Physical Literacy, and thus PE, for persons and the public (Particularly in a so-called Democratic society)?
One potential, but powerful, answer is that we come to a deeper relationship with our embodied, embedded, and entangled selves as we spend more time inter and intra-acting with them through embodied practices/physical activities. Those deeper relationships (with self and other) reflect a more integrated/coherent connectivity that empowers each of the entangled selves, and are enhanced by the sensitivity, attunement, resonance, and harmony that is fostered through meaningful inter/intra-corporeal (bodily) encounters. In short, these encounters help us to see and sense our relatedness and interdependence, AND feel alive! Put simply, they help us to become personally and collectively “Well-Attached.”
The value of such deeper relationships for Democratic societies is that they enhance our ability to respect, understand, attend to, communicate, dialogue, and even disagree with each other with dignity, all of which makes harming each other (without informed consent) much more difficult, which makes Democracy, and thus living well together, much more possible. Again, it’s about being Well-Attached.
{PE’s value for society should not primarily be measured by its effect on test scores, obesity rates, health care costs, wins, and superficial status related to competence or body image.}
A word on Bodies and why our notions of them matter so much
Throughout the first two parts of this series, I have suggested that the prevailing notions of body, in education and P.E., are too reductive (body-as-object or body-as-machine). A better, more accurate notion of body, in my view, is a holistic one whereby body means the LIVED BODY (or Soma, as both Subject AND Object), and RELATIONAL BODY (which is inter-subjective, entangled, and embedded with other “bodies,” including non-human and systemic ones). One important difference between these two notions (between the reductive and holistic ones) is in how they matter.
The reductive version is of an atomized and separate individual whose agency and interdependence is disregarded or unrecognized. But this is an inaccurate, and thus, limiting conception of bodies. How does this notion matter? It lends itself toward undemocratic approaches where teachers control and direct students toward pre-determined ends.
Rather than P.E. working with that body, it should orient itself around a more accurate, and thus, more potent holistic one that honors how entangled, nested, and fractal all bodies are. This next section may get a little complicated (and fractal), but bear with me:
Each person is a body constituted and formed by other bodies, and each person is also a body that constitutes and forms other bodies. In other words, humans are bodies of bodies of bodies within bodies within bodies. Yikes.
An example: political bodies, community bodies, national bodies, family bodies, human bodies, organ bodies, cellular bodies, etc.
The point I wish to make here is that all bodies form and are informed by each other in a collective web of interdependence. This, of course, includes the human “body,” but also includes political bodies and community bodies. What is important here is that the dynamic state of these bodies matter! They all influence each other’s state. The more “in-tune” these entangled bodies are with themselves and each other, the more they *harmonize their actions. And the more harmonized they are, the more *coherent they are. And the more coherent they are, the more they empower each other to be well. Physical Education’s function in this context, then, is that it facilitates enhanced local and global coherence of body and bodies (through embodied practices/physical activities). Put another way: it helps us become more well-attached.
*I should be careful not to imply that harmony and coherence are equivalent to homogeneity and uniformity. Quite the contrary, these two terms describe the capacity for difference to remain different while simultaneously blending together to produce a synergistic effect. One formulation of coherence I am quite fond of is articulated by Mae-wan Ho as a dynamic state of simultaneous “maximum global cohesion and maximum local freedom.” The goal of enhancing harmony and coherence both personally and socially (and ecologically) is not a utopic society without struggle or tension, but rather a multiplicity in unity (not uniformity) that derives its strength and resilience from both its diversity and commonality, and from its ability to struggle well together with dignity. Such a society can be thought of as CHAORDIC.
Think of it this way: “good” political or economic policy can make it easier for personal and community bodies to live well, together (that’s what makes it “good”). And the same is true going the other direction: people who are well, together (because it’s ALWAYS together), tend to make better political and economic policies (that make it easier for people and communities to be well, together).
Bodies matter, because every “Body” is political and belongs to, shapes, and is shaped by a “Bodies Politic.” Bodies matter because every “Body” influences all other bodies. And so a holistic notion of body matters in such a way that it enables and encourages educators to partner and correspond (co-respond, as Ingold says) with others, effectively empowering them, not overpowering or disempowering them (as the reductive notion tends to do)
P.E.’s WHAT: entangled personal and social bodies
P.E., as “Physical Education,” then, is ultimately and primarily about and for the cultivation of the embodied (“Physical”) capabilities of the entangled personal, social, and ecological bodies that constitute a community and world, and in the service of collective well-being…
{It is not primarily about and for a long life of physical activity. It is much, much better and more than that.}
What about the HOW?
This series has mostly been about the WHAT and WHY of Physical Education in Public Schools that live in societies explicitly oriented around Democratic Principles. The HOW of P.E. requires another article. Until I write that article, I will say this: the HOW should ultimately prioritize meaning and relevance, and be more Democratic (than it usually is).
A recap of the 3-part series
All organisms (including people) want to be and live well. We all aim to respond to the demands and possibilities of life in such a way that we feel well. And we always do this together. We are attached!
The general point of (most) Democratic societies is to live well, together — To be Well-Attached. Most modern Democratic societies recognize that we are all equal with regards to our quest to live well, and so they prioritize arrangements that help us to respond responsibly to the demands and possibilities of life.
Public Education is one such arrangement that expresses and expands our capabilities to respond responsibly, and thus live well, together. Or, be Well-Attached. It should not be primarily for economic or professional success.
Physical Education, in schools, is a set of practices and exercises that primarily involves our embodied, physical dimension, the cultivation of which enhances our ability to respond responsibly and live well, together. Or, to be Well-Attached. It should not primarily be “movement” for the sake of “health.”
**Thank you to those who generously offered their feedback before I published this! An extra special thanks to Justen O’Connor for his insights!
