Thesis (M.Phil.) - University of Glasgow, 2008. / M.Phil. thesis submitted to the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow, 2008. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

This interdisciplinary dissertation is a study of the ways in which we sensually embody and experience ow world. It is a metaphilosophical account that begins within orporeality; indeed, it is suggested that this isthe place where the philosophic urge is argued, elaborated, and reflected upon. While many studies of embodiment tend to focus upon "the body" as object, cultural artefact, or text for cultural inscription, the approach used in this dissertation is with the incarnation (the making flesh) of interaction in particular socio-physical milieux. The shift is thus from investigation of bodies to bodying, from noun form to transitive verb of incorporealization. This shift is felt necessary in order to better understand the so-called dualisms of traditional Western philosophic thought: mindbody, self-other, self-world, nature-culture, etc., and Tantric inspired Eastern philosophies of self-all relationality. It will be suggested, taking the lead from Leder (1990), that these apparent dualisms are not so much "add-ons" to philosophies of being, but arise in the experiential body itself. This dissertation endeavours to rethink certain "givens" of everyday life, such as perception of time and space, place, enacted memory, having empathic feelings for others, and so on, from within bodily experience and occidental-oriental philosophies of being. Certain neurological disorders are examined for their way of deconstructing elements required to construct a meaningful incarnated life-world. The process of embodiment is not only what the body is, but what it does. My construction of what is necessary for embodiment studies therefore considers bodily praxes (cultural and individual), as well as the sensual, sensate experiences arising in the body. The image of a ball game is evoked in various ways throughout the dissertation not only because it well describes the dense layers of interaction and an emergent sense of bodiliness, but it also illustrates reciprocity and situatedness. This thesis is intended to contribute to the health sciences as well as cultural studies. It draws upon the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, J. J. Gibson's ecological psychology, neurological studies and case histories, and the Eastern tradition of Tantrism in its Mahayanist Buddhist and Taoist forms.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2001. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Bibliography: leaves 282-320.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2008. / Bibliography: leaves 321-331. Also issued online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Edinburgh, 1999.

Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-105). Also available online.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Restricted until May 2005. Bibliography: leaves 88-89.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2009. / Accompanied by DVD entitled: Body of knowledge. DVD can be viewed at UWS Library. A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, Social Justice and Social Change Research Group, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-456) and index.

The main focus of this dissertation is a discussion of how an artist uses her dance bodily knowledge to develop in a static art form a more bodily sense of movement. For this purpose this dissertation examines four clay sculptures by contemporary artist Mary Frank. The analysis suggests that the uncharacteristic sense of movement displayed in these works derives from her experiential knowledge of dance. This sense of movement is achieved through the considered assemblage and inextricable relationship between Frank’s dance bodily knowledge (body knowledge a dancer acquires through years of dance practice) and the manipulation of clay, the plastic medium she uses to create these forms. The study reveals that Frank’s ceramic assemblages of organic shapes resembling a figure could be related to somatic awareness of arms, legs, torso, hips, and head that dancers experience while dancing. Similarly, the fluid quality of her ceramic assemblages and their seamless coexistence with the environment can be correlated to the proprioceptic sensibilities (the reception of stimuli produced within the organism by movement or tension) that a dancer’s body senses as it navigates through the air and across the ground managing the pull of gravity. These findings are developed through a discussion of the philosophic theories on bodily knowledge (knowing in and through the body) by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michael Polanyi, Edward Casey, Pierre Bourdieu, and Richard Shusterman, as well as the philosophic theories on dance bodily knowledge (my own term) developed by Barbara Mettler, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, and Jaana Parviainen. In addition, Mary’s sculptures are compared to traditionally built sculptures to illustrate the bodily sensory quality of the sense of movement of her structures. Although the scope of this study is limited to the application of dance bodily knowledge onto sculpture, perceived through the clay sculptures of Mary Frank, this research adds to the debate on the interrelationships between dance education and the arts, the body and institutions of learning, and the body and society. It suggests that dance practice and introspection of one’s body movement affects how one perceives the world around us and therefore how one reacts and expresses oneself on to the world. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection