Contemporary ways of understanding human movements, specifically
movement learning, are heavily dominated by individualistic, dualistic
and mechanistic perspectives. These perspectives are individualistic in
the sense that in research as well as in educational practice
movements/movers are typically decontextualized, they are dualistic in
the sense that the body is taken to be 'inhabited', even 'governed, ' by
a rational mind which is not itself a part of that body; and they are
mechanistic in the sense that movements and movement learning can be
'calculated'.
This approach has supported the dominance of a westernised and
predominantly white, masculinised and heteronormative view of able
bodies, embodiment and movements. Hence, it has contributed to
marginalise not only other approaches and perspectives and individuals.
New research has evolved, including new approaches and these held
perspectives have been challenged by social and culturally sensitive,
holistic as well as pluralistic, and dynamic/organic perspectives of
human movements and moving humans. Examples of such research can be
found in disciplines such as; physical education and pedagogy,
ethnography, philosophy, and sociology.
Learning Movements: New Perspectives of Movement Education provides
the societal and epistemological background for these new approaches and
will be essential in disseminating this knowledge to movement educators,
academics and researchers as well as professionals within education,
sports, health and fitness, dance, outdoor activities, etc., and that it
will spearhead new and inclusive practices within these settings.
