Choreographies of Knowledge. Mis/fitting in Academia

In this chapter, I read academia as a landscape in which certain choreographies are enacted and reinforced. In these choreographies, the expectations that our bodyminds are normally required to meet in this context are staged; how is the appropriate academic identity supposed to be shaped? First, I will challenge the idea that intellectual work is carried out by somewhat disembodied subjects. Secondly, I will address how academic structures require certain attitudes, capacities, and rhythms, considering in particular three aspects: 1) time; 2) space; and 3) rhetorical skills. I will then highlight how the standards examined lead to the exclusion and marginalization of bodyminds perceived as ‘asynchronous’, which determines an epistemological failure: the presence of plural forms of participation, experiences, and bodyminds would represent an asset that is lost. Precisely the ‘misfitting’ between subjects and academia can help disclose, for the formers, the necessity to craft new paths: I will suggest some practical proposals that can re-orient us towards more sustainable and diverse choreographies. Throughout the essay, I will mainly refer to the analyses proposed by disability/neurodiversity studies and feminist theory.