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FrancoAngeli Journals

Articles

No. 1 (2025)

Embodiment and Reflexivity: Learning with the senses and the body

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/erpoa1-2025oa20441
Submitted
giugno 24, 2025
Published
2026-10-09

Abstract

The meaning of the construct of reflexivity is discussed by retrieving its meanings and generative modalities that come from the close link with the dimensions of Embodied Cognition and Embodied Learning. The aim is to understand the link between embodiment and reflexivity from a self-directed learning point of view, interweaving its potentialities and limits through ‘non-traditional’ pathways of embodied awareness addressed to adults, in particular in formal learning contexts, where learning and techniques to solicit reflexivity usually do not pass through the bodily dimension. Research is presented that analyses, following an auto/biographical approach, visuo-narrative writings from a personal reflection on the role of the body in learning and how embodiment can facilitate reflexivity. The conclusions highlight how reflexivity can be sustained and developed through practices of embodied awareness that, starting from the body and the ‘rich’ languages of sensory, perceptive, bodily and symbolic experience, allow one to assume an observational and critical point of view with respect to oneself. Embodied reflexivity in formal contexts can contribute to the recognition of one’s own learning, generating a sense of empowerment and discovery from authentic authorial processes.

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