Embodied Learning Processes in Activism

In this paper, I employ narrative method to explore the learning processes of adult activists engaged in activism. Drawing on the story of one animal activist I explain the embodied learning processes in a direct action environment. I explore how emotions and the body interplay with learning, which moves beyond a purely cognitive or rational lens of learning which privileges the mind. Importantly, I show the ways in which affect, feelings, emotions and the body are saturated and situated in direct action learning spaces and places. These emotions, sensory and kinaesthetic bodily dynamics encourage a rethink of learning processes that are generally conceptualised as head-based or disembodied. It is argued that embodiment implicates a ‘see-feel-learn’ sequence rather than a rational process of ‘analyse-think-change’ encouraging us to rethink the nature of learning processes in direct action activism.