Embodied interpretation: A novel way of evocatively re-presenting meanings in phenomenological research

Les Todres, Kathleen T. Galvin

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This article contributes to a growing trend in articulating an aesthetic phenomenology that exercises more evocative and poetic forms of writing. Our task is to give ontological weight to our common humanity, thereby facilitating experiences of recognition and 'homecoming'. This developing trend could benefit from Gendlin's philosophy of the body and his practice of 'focusing', which finds words that carry forward the textural dimensions of experience. We apply this practice of embodied interpretation to research about caring for a lifelong partner with Alzheimer's disease. We conclude that the value of embodied interpretation is that it serves the kind of knowledge that is particularly important in human sciences - it provides understandings that live in ways that touch both 'head' and 'heart'.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)568-583
    Number of pages16
    JournalQualitative Research
    Volume8
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2008

    Keywords

    • Aesthetic phenomenology
    • Embodied interpretation
    • Evocative
    • Gendlin

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