Abstract
This thesis examines the construction of bodily culture through the practice of Taiji among people from different cultural backgrounds in various Taiji schools across London. The idea sprang from the researcher’s curiosity about bodily movement in dance, seen through the lens of a newcomer in London. Why were certain bodily performances easy for some but difficult for others? In terms of pedagogic process, why do some cultures prefer verbal explanation of the movements instead of learning by observation and practice? How is an unfamiliar movement learnt, and then embodied? Through participant observation of the Taiji practitioners, this thesis explores the issues of bodily practice from various perspectives ranging from social constructivism to the phenomenological awareness of human/landscape relationships and seeks to answer these questions and more.
The research explores the literature of dance anthropology, social anthropology and phenomenology, finding new connections in these fields as well as in both Western and Chinese Philosophy. Cultural symbols and ritual in the Taiji groups are examined, as is their relationship with the bodily practice and consciousness of the students. The academic flavour of the thesis swings between epistemology and phenomenology, between Cartesian dualism and sensory awareness, and between the anatomical body and the pre-objective body. But it is the ethnographic accounts drawn from the participant experience and semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher that forms the foundation of the analysis.
The purpose of this thesis is not to find a singular and definitive truth in bodily practice, as such a rigid and object-focused search risks distorting what it finds, but rather to engage in a conversation that follows the unending dynamic oscillation between epistemology and phenomenology. Drawing on observation and refreshed perspectives from different academic disciplines, it yields new insights about bodily practice and its connection to culture, environment, and time.