Embodied Wisdom

Embodied wisdom: Meditations on memoir and education by Alison Pryer, Ph.D.explores the interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit within diverse educational contexts.Evocative, sensual prose carries the reader on a journey through the personal and theremembered in a layered series of autobiographical essays, each one affording deeper insightsinto the ways in which the inner, emotional life of an educator is intertwined with everydayembodied practice. This is a provocative text, alive with the richness and complexity ofpedagogical experience, one that acknowledges the presence of the body, the spirit, thepassionate, the subjective, the intuitive, the chaotic, and the sacred in all the relationships thatmake teaching and learning possible.In speaking beyond the limitations of dualistic pedagogy, in its diverse forms andlocations, Embodied wisdom enters at times into unexpected and little explored pedagogicalterritories, engaging with educational contexts that our dualistic culture often denigrates,dismisses, or considers taboo. This work offers readers subtle understandings of the centrality of love, desire and eros in teaching andlearning; carefully examines the connections between powerful family and school pedagogies, including 'domestic' violence againstwomen and childhood sexual abuse; opens up a textual space in which to contemplate the contemporary relevance of the ancientwisdom of Zen pedagogy; and gives serious consideration to the role that the public pedagogies of popular culture play in the formationof personal and cultural identity.The work of healing our dualistic educational culture is a significant political and ethical undertaking - a matter of socialjustice. Embodied wisdom is a book that lights the way for those who want to engage in meaningful cultural transformation. It is, aboveall, a generative and hopeful text, one that makes possible new kinds of conversations. It will be of interest to curriculum theorists andteacher educators, as well as those engaged in holistic education, social ecology, women’s and gender studies, and cultural studies. Thisaward-winning, ground breaking exploration of memoir as methodology is also anexquisitely written resource for those engaged in innovative arts-based andautobiographical research.