Research journey - Embodiment and Activism
What role does my body play for me in my activism? What questions, issues and situations does it face? What bodily reactions, resistances and resources for change do I encounter? For me, activism means acting in a way that wants to change conditions. For me, this action can happen on a large or small scale, in the raging and in the quiet, in the silent and in the loud, inside and outside. I assume that for political/social change the involvement of the body is elementary, because a lot of experiences and knowledge are inscribed, which have an effect on us, are perpetuated, but also contribute to change in a surprising way.
Last year I did a certificate in embodied activism at the Embody Lab (https://learn.theembodylab.com) with Nkem Ndefo, Rae Johnson, Farzana Khan and continued to research their work in person and in exchange with Janina Rohlik and Ahlam Dirani.
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​I think of it like this: create spaces to have the opportunity to act. To develop an embodied perspective for a world that works beyond binary thinking.
fight, flight, freeze and appease. how can we understand our patterns, relate them to our position in society and create movements, beyond them.
collective flow as a state of being to become agilible in situations of need.
singing to the bones, resonating flesh. Where is all this missing stored?
Kultur der Körper vs Körperkult
What do we learn, when we perceive our body, not visually, but sensually? how do we engage with our body knowledge in political context?
Source: some stills form our performative sharing of our process with Ahlam Dirani in Amalgam, Beirut, Lebanon
through touch in different ways (touching with skin, with voice, wie breath) we do a collective work of dealing with embodied memories.
is embodiment becoming the new thing to survive in capitalist societies? how do we use embodiment in a subversive way?
how can we use the kinaesthetic empathy to widen our perspectives and relate to each other more sustainable?
where in my body is the feeling of care and comfort (in german Trost)
Thank you to Ahlam Dirani, Janina Rohlik and Franziska Ullrich, femtak, queerpunkt Hannover, which inspired, created and where involved in the process of research.
Research Workshop Series - Embodiment and Activism
Out of the research I developed a research-workshop series, which is dealing with different political topics on a physical and creative level. The topics will include informal sanctions for norm violations, experienced and practiced discrimination, the question of what micro activism can be, collective flow and difference. In addition, there will be space for topics that are of concern to you.
In the workshop dates we will trace our bodies through different techniques:
Meditations, embodiment exercises from dance, creative tools from free movement/dance, using the voice to writing and drawing.
Through a variety of exercises we want to experience for ourselves how we can better understand and deal with the reactions of our bodies. The focus will be on empowerment. I understand empowerment in this context as follows: to become capable of action by developing a deeper understanding of our own body and its reactions. Through this, we can use our knowledge of the body to work on change on a physical level as well.
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I am slow leaning and on the beginning of this lifetime research, if you are interested in the topic and want to share, connect or socialize, dont hesitate. I am very happy to collaborate.
Gefördert durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Programm NEUSTART KULTUR, [Hilfsprogramm DIS-TANZEN/ tanz:digital/ DIS-TANZ-START] des Dachverband Tanz Deutschland
