Communication
A Critical/Cultural
Introduction
Deanna L. Fassett | John T. Warren | Keith Nainby
COMMUNICATION
A Critical/Cultural Introduction
•
CHAPTER 7: EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE AND NONVERBAL LANGUAGE
Overview
• Explore how the body is a site of knowing
• Describe how the body can be a means of learning
• Distinguish the types of nonverbal communication
• Apply concepts of embodied knowing and nonverbal communication to your everyday life and, specifically, to your public advocacy efforts.
Embodied Knowledge
• The body is in training; we are becoming who we
are through our bodies’ experiences. Our bodies
are epistemic; that is, we come to know through
our bodies.
• What are examples of body language?
– Expression, movement, and tone
• How does your body language play an important
role in preparing your message? (Presentation,
project, debate, etc)
– Your feelings about a particular speaking occasion, topic, or
message, whether you’re experiencing excitement, curiosity,
fear, anger, or frustration will show no matter the type of
language you use in your presentation. The words you say can
be relatively easy to lie about, but the body language you
show is not easy to lie about if not impossible.
Body Epistemology and Embodied
Learning
• Epistemology: the study of knowing, or
how we know what we know.
• Body Epistemology: how we come to
know and learn within our flesh.
– What is normal are our unique variations and
how they shape our sense-making of the world
around us.
• Docile Bodies
– Bodies that remain disciplined enough to achieve
what those in power want you to achieve.
– Where do you think this occurs?
Public Communication and Body
Epistemology
• A speaker can adapt their ideas,
examples, or delivery accordingly
when they have an awareness of
the body of their audience.
– Posture, eye contact, expressions, etc.
– It’s crucial to reflect on our past
experiences.
• Paralinguistic qualities
–
Are of particular importance to people
who frequently speak in public. These
include aspects of your voice, such as
tone, pitch, or rate—these are aspects
that modify how you say something
rather than what you say.
Fig. 7.3: Copyright © 2017 iStockphoto LP/nd3000.
Body-Identity Connection
• Body-identity connection
– How others “read” our bodies and our
actions in order to determine who we are
• Stigma deeply connected to
communication about our bodies.
– Stigma is The demeaning, dismissive, or
overtly hostile interpretations people
with privilege assign to people they
marginalize and the ways people who are
marginalized come to accept or
internalize those negative
interpretations.
Nonverbal Communication: What
Does it Entail?
• Nonverbal does not occur through words
• We do not learn lessons through
thinking and speaking alone.
– Touch can heal or it can be violent; different
people can have different relationships to power
and touch. We learn different things through this
sense.
• Another area of nonverbal
communication includes how people use
artifacts to express themselves.
– How you use artifacts like clothing and makeup
can communicate more than individual style—
you also shape perceptions and create meaning.
READING REFLECTION CHAPTER 7
Instructions:
1.
2.
After reading chapter 7, write-up your responses to the prompts below.
Submit your reading reflection as a .pdf in Moodle.
Reflection questions:
What was the most meaningful, interesting, or significant thing you learned from
this chapter?
Next, answer the following:
1. Are there any nonverbal markers that you believe are universally (i.e.
across cultural communication) understood?
2. When communicating with friends, how close (in proximity) is too close,
just right, or too far? How about with acquaintances? Business associates?
Strangers? (How) Do you tell people when they are too close or too far?
3. Have you ever had a conversation with a friend, family member, colleague,
or peer when your nonverbal communication contradicted what you were
saying or feeling? How did it affect your relationship or future
communication with the person?