Kenzie

Introduction

My name is Kenzie and I’m a senior at Knox. In this class we focused on how we make sense of the world, and how our bodies function in spaces, in relation to our senses. Please look below to how I better make sense of my interactions with the world with three StoryMapJS’s, where I dive into my everyday habits, my friends habits, and readings we’ve used as a class to better understand anthropology of/with the senses.
At the beginning of class we were all recommended to set a learning goal for ourselves (or something we wanted to achieve by the end of the term) and mine was to learn a new magic card trick. If you scroll down, you’ll see my reflection on this!

For ease, here are the learning targets for the term as given by William Hope:
1. To be conversant with conceptual frameworks of ‘sensory communities’, ‘embodiment/practice’, ‘emplacement’, ‘technology and the senses’ and ‘power/ empowerment’.
2. To actively engage a range of sensory perceptions and experiences in order to critically and creatively reflect upon and more fully interpret the contexts and practices of ‘everyday life’.
3. To practice ‘arts of noticing’ in relation to the workings of living and human-created systems, especially as these inform ethnographic research.

Knox Student Study Habits

In this activity we evaluated our own study habits as well as the study habits of a friend. I focused on spacial awareness, music (sound), and bodies.

A Typical Day

In “A Typical Day” we walked through what a “typical day” would be for us (AKA my Wednesday) and then we tracked actually how the day went.

Embodiment and Body Techniques in the KCC

In this activity we focused on a specific gathering (I chose KCC rehearsal) and analyzed the body techniques that occurred in the group as well as in ourselves. I used my own observation as well as interviewing a friend in the choir to see what he noticed.

Final Thoughts and Reflections

Some final reflections…
I’m a firm believer that you need to “do” and “experience” to really learn and understand/know it. I think that putting it in the context of senses helps with better understanding how you can experience something. I think that getting a hands on approach, using the notecard sit spot activity is helpful to ground yourself and really experience what is going on. I think to build upon these insights I could focus on the habitus more, the process of what’s going on. It’s really hard to see habitus if you’re in it, though, so I think thinking more outwardly and looking in on what’s going on can help me connect more with learning.

I really liked the Mauss reading on Body Techniques. I think that was really helpful for me to understand how people learn, and classifying things like imitation. It also helped me understand Leung’s Squatting Through Violence. I also liked The Senses, Self, and Society Selections – Vannini et al. I felt like I got a lot from it, specifically that there are things called sensory communities which I feel like helps me understand how different communities and people within them interact with each other. I also thought of Bonilla, Yarimar “The Past is Made by Walking” was useful because it is a good example of connecting with something (the past) which you aren’t really able to connect with. But with using your senses and doing a memory walk you’re able to connect in the moment better by stepping into the shoes of the past.

I feel like I met the class’s learning goal 1: To be conversant with conceptual frameworks of ‘sensory communities’, ‘embodiment/practice’, ‘emplacement’, ‘technology and the senses’ and ‘power/ empowerment’. I felt what stands with me is the amount of sensory communities and embodiment/place that I identify with that I didn’t realize were an integral part of my life already. I try to be mindful and connect with myself in the moment (which includes connecting with my senses) and I think having ways to think about it like with embodiment and how you use your body is helpful for my understanding and practice. I think I also achieved class learning goal two because I really have been thinking about everyday life and how I use my senses and how I interact with my daily life (classes, choir, eating, being outside) and how I use my senses within those spaces. As for learning goal 3, I think I’m approaching it. I think I’ve gotten better at understanding human created systems, but I think I could do even better with connecting senses into that. This goal reminds me of habitus because sometimes it’s hard to see the systems that you’re living in, so I want to get better at that. As for my own learning goal (learning a new magic card trick) I didn’t do so well at it. I practiced a card trick I already know, but I found it was hard to just sit down and practice. I wish I chose something more physical so I could do it whenever I was thinking about it, and I didn’t need to have a deck of cards on me.