Corpus and curriculum
finding our rhythm
pp. 173-193
in: , Rethinking curriculum in times of shifting educational context, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
The present chapter attempts to redraw curriculum boundaries by challenging the conventional hierarchy between the mind and the body. "Discarnation" meaning the systematic suppression and disavowal of the living body as a source of orienting, knowing, and relating to the world, a typically modern attitude, is rejected as a viable existential or educational outlook. Body and mind are deconstructed on the plane of Rhythm, a timeless movement which is shown to be the ontological matrix for both body and mind. An attempt is made to shed the knowledge fixation through the grasp of the rhythmic. Part of Tagore's Chandalika, a dance-drama is presented here as a pedagogic effort to reengage the world of the senses and their training toward a re-awakening of the sensibilities. In this reengagement, the body teaches us attention, responsibility, and competence, all of which add up to a supreme form of caritas that can help us bridge the body-mind hiatus.