Paola Napolitano

Last week we had a really great conversation over Skype. I was introduce to so many new concepts about research methodologies. As I am trying to find a new rhythm between daily life and studying, I am attracted by different resources available but feeling disorientated at the same time. During our discussion, something that resonated with my learning experience was the term ‘’kinesthetic empathy’’. This reminded me of kinesphere, used by R. Laban to refer to the Space surrounding an individual and used to map human movement through observing how the Body moves through Scales of Movement. I found, according to Theodor Lipps’ theory of ‘Einfühlung’ (Lipps, 1851-1914) ’kinesthetic empathy’’ occurs ‘‘When observing a body in motion, such as an acrobat, spectators could experience an ‘inner mimesis’, where they felt as if they were enacting the actions they were observing*. ’’ This concept made me question about the functionality of the Greek theatre catharsis. Catharsis was first c...

I felt lost in the flow of concepts and abstract thought exchange at our last Sunday's discussion.  This confusion was relevant for my process of learning. Ongoing uncertainty and lack of solid answers are giving me the chance to ask questions and find their intrinsic value in the context of my whole experience as a learner, as the book 'Knowing knowledge' suggests. I had already made a conclusion and firm point to myself of what information, knowledge, learning and doing represent for me, I thought. The conversation took me to unchartered waters where I reiterated my tendency to like structures and organized content delivery. Knowledge can be a trap if you codify your language and you manage to interact with others truly by means of that code.  Knowledge without empathy leads you to intellectual elitism and intellectual elitism is the antithesis of culture dissemination.  The process of learning is taking me to sharpen my tools of communication, whereas the empathic abil...