Book Section
Chiara Montalti
Choreographies of Knowledge
Mis/fitting in Academia
In this chapter, I read academia as a landscape in which certain choreographies are enacted and reinforced. The expectations that our bodyminds are normally required to meet are staged in these choreographies, but how is an appropriate academic identity supposed to be shaped? Firstly, I challenge the idea that intellectual work is carried out by somewhat disembodied subjects. Secondly, I address how academic structures require certain attitudes, capacities, and rhythms, considering three aspects in particular: 1) time; 2) space; and 3) rhetorical skills. I then highlight how the standards examined lead to the exclusion and marginalization of bodyminds perceived as ‘asynchronous’, and how this determines an epistemological failure. Plural forms of participation, experience, and bodyminds are an asset that is lost. The very ‘misfit’ between subjects and academia can help disclose the necessity to craft new paths: I suggest some practical proposals that can reorient us towards more sustainable and diverse choreographies. Throughout the essay, I mainly refer to analyses proposed by disability and neurodiversity studies and feminist theory.
| Title |
Choreographies of Knowledge
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| Subtitle |
Mis/fitting in Academia
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| Author(s) |
Chiara Montalti
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
In this chapter, I read academia as a landscape in which certain choreographies are enacted and reinforced. The expectations that our bodyminds are normally required to meet are staged in these choreographies, but how is an appropriate academic identity supposed to be shaped? Firstly, I challenge the idea that intellectual work is carried out by somewhat disembodied subjects. Secondly, I address how academic structures require certain attitudes, capacities, and rhythms, considering three aspects in particular: 1) time; 2) space; and 3) rhetorical skills. I then highlight how the standards examined lead to the exclusion and marginalization of bodyminds perceived as ‘asynchronous’, and how this determines an epistemological failure. Plural forms of participation, experience, and bodyminds are an asset that is lost. The very ‘misfit’ between subjects and academia can help disclose the necessity to craft new paths: I suggest some practical proposals that can reorient us towards more sustainable and diverse choreographies. Throughout the essay, I mainly refer to analyses proposed by disability and neurodiversity studies and feminist theory.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
April 28, 2026
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| Subject |
time
space
productivity
rhetoric
disability studies
conferences
body
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
205
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| page end |
234
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| Source |
Performing Embodiment: Choreographies of Affect, Language, and Social Norms, ed. by Alberica Bazzoni and Federica Buongiorno, Cultural Inquiry, 39 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2026), pp. 205–34
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