The consuming (no)body of online learners: re-membering e-communities of practice

Abstract

This paper unfolds through the eating, speaking mouths of online learners and teachers and theorists as a way of exploring the educative potential of holding in tension the ambiguous virtues of the body and the (no)body in formal and informal electronic learning environments. Online learning research commonly devalues the body and takes the body for granted as a feature of the learning process. The limited research on the body in online learning ranges from seeking ways to compensate for the online invisibility and inaudibility of a sensing, passionate, relational body online, to celebrating the (no)body in virtual space where learning in relationship is not marked and shaped by the power differentials of class, gender, race, (dis)ability, regional accents, size, beauty, and age. An analysis of autobiographical and qualitative research texts of online learners and teachers re-members the body through the eating, speaking mouth, and calls for a re-embodiment of electronic comm unities of practice that redefines ritual practices, hospitality, and learning in relationship.