Centering embodied learning in anti-oppressive pedagogy

Academia has traditionally valued cognition and intellectual processes, eschewing the significance of other bodily domains involved in teaching, learning, and theorizing. Grounding the analysis in our experiences as diversely positioned academics, we argue that embodied teaching and theorizing provide a unique means of delivering material consistent with the aims of social justice education, while simultaneously challenging neoliberal paradigms. Acknowledging both students' and faculty members' discomfort and/or resistance to embodied approaches, this analysis contributes to discussions about critical approaches to dismantling neoliberalism and developing an alternative framework of understanding through which conventional paradigms of thought may be challenged.