10 Studying as Embodied, Social, and Aesthetic Practice: A Phenomenological Critique

In this essay, we provide a phenomenologically based critique of Western concepts of studying as individualized, cognitive practice. This very idea is closely connected to Eurocentric privileges of the so-called “far senses” of both vision and audition. We lay out how studying is an inherently embodied and social practice that undermines any rigid division and hierarchization of the human sensorium. We argue that by overcoming the traditional and hegemonic concept of studying for the benefit of a more embodied, social, and aesthetic approach to this phenomenon, we can analyze and do justice to the matter more accurately.