University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Master's Theses Student Research 12-2020 Missing in Action: Locating the Body in Interdisciplinary Studies Ann Lenore Moradian [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses Recommended Citation Moradian, Ann Lenore, "Missing in Action: Locating the Body in Interdisciplinary Studies" (2020). Master's Theses. 180. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses/180 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © 2020 ANN LENORE MORADIAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School MISSING IN ACTION: LOCATING THE BODY IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Ann Lenore Moradian College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Theatre Arts and Dance Dance Education December 2020 This Thesis by: Ann Lenore Moradian Entitled: Missing in Action: Locating the Body in Interdisciplinary Studies has been approved as meeting the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Performing and Visual Arts, the School of Theatre Arts and Dance, Program of Dance Education Accepted by the Thesis Committee: ______________________________________________________ Sandra L. Minton, Ph.D., Chair, Advisor _____________________________________________________ Christy O’Connell-Black, M.A., Committee Member Accepted by the Graduate School: ___________________________________________________ Jeri-Anne Lyons, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Associate Vice President for Research ABSTRACT Moradian, Ann Lenore. Missing In Action: Locating the Body in Interdisciplinary Studies. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, University of Northern Colorado, 2020. This research relied on the use of interdisciplinary literature, surveys and interviews to explore the prevalence of the human body and its movement across a variety of disciplines other than movement-based practices, and also to explore perspectives of movement experts regarding the knowledge, skills, and capacities they believed might be related to their practice-based work. In other words, what do movement practitioners and movement experts know, and who cares? Among the essential questions driving this study were: Q1 How do other disciplines integrate, relate to, or consider the human body or its movement in their research, writing or practice? Q2 What knowledge, skills, capabilities and strengths do movement practitioners and experts have to contribute to discussions that include the human body, its movement or its affects? Q3 What knowledge, skills, capabilities and strengths do movement practitioners and experts have to contribute to discussions and efforts that address challenges to systemic health confronting humanity today? Q4 Why are movement practitioners and experts often absent from interdisciplinary discussions that include the human body, its movement or its affects? The materials gathered were analyzed with the aim of understanding the range of possibilities for future work, and identifying areas of potential discourse, engagement, or collaboration across disciplines. Because the primary aim of this research was to identify possibilities, rather than make comparisons or identify trends, the limitations to this study should be negligible. Those limitations included researcher bias, potential participant bias, the limited iii reach within disciplines other than movement-based practice, and the subjective nature of a self- rating exercise in which the movement experts participated. The outcomes of this research were founded on the responses of 89 interdisciplinary survey participants, 97 movement expert survey participants, and discussions with eleven interview participants coming from both interdisciplinary and movement-based fields. These outcomes revealed a strong interest in the body and its movement across a number of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience and technology. Although disciplines outside of movement- based practice are involved in interdisciplinary projects that work with the body in powerful and important ways, instances where movement experts are called upon to contribute their practice- and praxis-based knowledge remain an exception rather than the norm. Even where movement experts’ embodied knowledge is recognized for its depth and import, it continues to be approached largely from the outside-in, where the body remains a container, or top-down, where the intellect and linear thinking impose limitations on what is potentially a vast body of knowledge. This research revealed potential directions and synergies for future work, entrenched institutional resistance to interdisciplinary collaboration, and serious ethical questions concerning the aims of body-based knowledge and its use. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work involved in realizing this thesis project is dedicated to the community of diligent, rigorous, courageous, honest, and often deeply wise human beings who demonstrate every day their commitment to living and learning through the wholeness of being a body. To me, this is the foundation of our empathy and our humanity, and where I believe hope for the future lies. I would like to thank all of the participants and each of those interviewed for their time, expertise, interest, and generosity in helping me to better understand this complex material. I would like to acknowledge those who have given me the courage and skills needed to wander through the unknown terrains of life and creative practice with a sense of vital engagement, confidence, and delight. This list includes first and foremost my mother, Marty Tharp, and Jim May, who I consider a mentor in the world of creative practice. I would also like to thank Janet Culp, child psychologist and pioneer in the wilderness of mind. She understood where I was headed long before I did, and helped me find the strength to proceed. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Sandra Minton, and Professor Christy O’Connell- Black for providing me with the freedom to explore outside-of-the-box, as well as the structure and guidance needed to frame and contain this research. I’d also like to thank Professor Rima Faber for her support and assistance with this project. I would like to acknowledge the many teachers who have each gifted me with skills and qualities needed for living a life well, and whose teachings will be reflected in all that I do. These include (in chronological order) Mattie Springfield, Maxine Williamson, Finis Jhung, Eric Beeler, Nadia Creamer, Milton Myers, Laurin Raiken, Philippe Nguyen, Lucien Forni, Catherine Auffret, Ellie Edelhoff, Fritjof Capra, and Jérôme Yelnik, among many others. v I would like to thank Nannette Bertschy, Camila Amaya Castro, Patricia Danahey, Jeffrey Friedman, Pauline Gasquet, Nerida Godfrey, Jeffrey Gormley, Marie-Odile Habert, Rania James, Breegan Kearney, Leonie Koban, Sabine Meunier, Lara Migliaccio, Corinne Ott, Hiie Sauma, Dilafruz Williams, and Claire Wyart for their beautiful minds, their generosity, and support, with a special nod of gratitude to Corinne and Pat who have accompanied me so graciously on this particular journey. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my husband, Khodu Moradian, and our son Jivahn Moradian, for not only their beautiful minds, generosity, and support, but also for making life worth living, and for teaching me the deepest and most beautiful lessons in life. Without their love, support, and humor life would lack its shimmer. And lastly, I would like to recognize in gratitude my father, Ken Tharp, for gifting me by example the inheritance of a moral compass, without which, nothing else matters. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….…... 1 Background………………………………………………………... 1 Goal of Thesis…………………………………………………...… 5 Purpose of Study…………………………………………………... 6 Significance of Study……………………………………………… 8 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE……………………………….…….. 11 Overview: Systemic Health and the Moving Body……………….. 11 Biology…………………………………………………………….. 12 Psychology……………………………………………………….... 19 Transhumanism……………………………………………………. 27 III. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………..….. 35 Research Elements………………………………………………… 35 Research Participants……………………………………………… 36 Research Instruments……………………………………………… 39 Data Analysis……………………………………………………… 41 IV. DISCUSSION………………………………………………..……. 43 Interdisciplinary Surveys………………………………………….. 43 Movement Expert Surveys………………………………………… 53 Interviews…………………………………………………………. 66 V. CONCLUSION………………………………………………...….. 86 Methodology Review……………………………………………… 86 Summary of the Outcomes………………………………………… 87 Discussion…………………………………………………………. 101 Conclusion……………………………………………………….... 107 WORKS CITED…………………………………………………….…………...… 110 vii APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………...… 116 A. INSTITUTIONAL REVUE BOARD APPROVAL LETTER AND DOCUMENTATION, CONSENT FORMS, AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION………………………………………... 116 B. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS………………………..................... 124 C. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INTERDISCIPLINARY PARTICIPANTS’ FIELDS OF WORK…………………………… 159 D. BODY SCHEMA IMAGE AND EXAMPLES OF PARTICIPANTS’ RESPONSES...................................................... 161 E. BODY-MIND-ENVIRONMENT SCHEMA, NINE ORIGINAL