Decolonizing Perception: Mourning the Loss of Ecological Connections through Ecosomatic Dance Practice
Blending narrative, field practice, and guided inquiry, this in-depth interview explores ecosomatic dance and artistic research as pathways to decolonize perception through sensory immersion and embodied participation. It invites practitioners to cultivate more-than-human connections and expand ecological awareness through practices of grieving and mourning for ecological losses.
Read and download book chapter (English version)
Read and download book chapter (German version)
Published in German: Rufo, Raffaele and Or, Yari (2023). Dekolonisierung der Wahrnehmung: Den Verlust ökologischer Verbindungen durch ökosomatische Tanzpraxis betrauern (Decolonizing Perception: Mourning the Loss of Ecological Connections through Ecosomatic Dance Practice). In: Or, Yari. (Ed.), Praxisbuch Transformation dekolonisieren. Ökosozialer Wandel in der sozialen und pädagogischen Praxis (Decolonizing Transformation: Ecosocial Transformation in Social and Educational Practice). pp. 194-216, Beltz Juventa: Weinheim. ISBN: 978-3-7799-7310-2 Print / 978-3-7799-7311-9 EBook (pdf). (You can find the free audiobook here)
Abstract: This in-depth interview describes and discusses the lived experience and evolving methods of Raffaele Rufo’s ecosomatic dance practice and artistic research in relation with the growing interest in new approaches to decolonize the dominant paradigm of transformation in social and educational fields. Through autobiographical narrative, field reflections and documentation of solo and group practice in urban forests and natural reserves, the interview reveals how the ecosomatic approach is conducive to a synesthetic and relational experience of perception. What is decolonised in this process is our self-perception of being superior and separate from our body and other forms of life and living systems. The interview describes how this involves (re-)connecting with cultural roots and facing the destructive aspects of one’s heritage. In the shadows of anthropic disasters, the ecosomatic practice of grieving and mourning for ecological losses is offered as a pathway to avoid the traps of anaesthetisation and apocalyptic thinking. If we agree that more technology is not going to solve the crisis, restoring the experience of the human body as an ecological process of reciprocity is a first step towards changing the way social and educational responses are imagined and structured. The interview is complemented by a guided ecosomatic exploration with trees and a list of guiding questions for practitioners, publications, links to projects and audiovisual resources on ecosomatics.
