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The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture: Philosophy and Goals

The Center for Body, Mind and Culture, which is situated in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and associated with the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar Chair in the Humanities, is an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to promoting research, programming, and teaching of topics concerning the body-mind-culture nexus.

The premise of the Center is that body, mind, and culture are not independent entities but rather essentially interdependent. They therefore need to be studied in terms of their interrelations, and such study is best pursued through interdisciplinary efforts.

The Center will draw on and advance the diverse disciplines of the College of Arts and Letters dealing with the body-mind-culture nexus, ranging from philosophy and history, through social, communicational, and literary studies, to the performing and plastic arts. But the challenge of treating the complexity of topics relating to the connections of body, mind, and culture necessitates reaching beyond the disciplines of the human sciences and fine arts to embrace the natural and health sciences. The Center is thus committed to forging strong links to these scientific disciplines through collaboration with other Colleges at Â鶹ŮÀÉ and with institutions beyond the Â鶹ŮÀÉ community.

The goals of the center include:

• Promoting and coordinating research on the nexus of body-mind-culture within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and beyond, through scholarly publications and other means.
• Providing encouragement and guidance in the College for teaching and curricular development within this area of research.
• Initiating, organizing, and supporting programming for conferences, lectures, performances, and workshops (including practical demonstrations of somatic techniques) on topics relating to body, mind, and culture.
• Recruiting and supporting graduate students who are interested in doing work related to the Center’s areas of interest. Please click here for information regarding the Dorothy F. Schmidt Doctoral Fellowship in Somaesthetics.
• Creating and developing collaborative links with other Â鶹ŮÀÉ colleges and centers involved in research concerning body, mind, and culture. Such links are already being established with the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
• Exploring and establishing collaborative research and programming with other universities and institutions concerned with body, mind, and culture.
• Planning and implementing projects of public outreach to serve diverse populations in the region served by Â鶹ŮÀÉ who have a strong interest in issues concerning the connections of body, mind, and culture.

Center for Body, Mind, and Culture

The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture is an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to promoting research, programming, and teaching of topics concerning the body-mind-culture nexus.Ìý The Center’s motivating logic affirms that the three terms constituting its name are essentially interdependent rather than separate entities and that they therefore need to be studied in terms of their interrelations and through interdisciplinary research.

Nested in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the Center deploys the College’s wide-ranging disciplinary perspectives on body, mind, and culture – ranging from philosophy and history, through social, communicational, and literary studies, to the performing and plastic arts. Treating the complexity of topics relating to the body-mind-culture connection, however, requires reaching beyond the disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts to embrace also the natural and health sciences. The Center is thus committed to forging strong links to these scientific disciplines through collaboration with other Colleges at Â鶹ŮÀÉ and with institutions beyond the Â鶹ŮÀÉ community.

To advance and coordinate research, teaching, and curricular development with respect to body, mind, and culture, the Center organizes lectures, workshops, and conferences. It also will encourage publications and other projects relating to its focus. Through collaborative networks with other Colleges at Â鶹ŮÀÉ and with other institutions, organizations, and researchers concerned with the Center’s field of interests, the Center is engaged not only in scholarly research and teaching but also pursues a mission of public outreach serving diverse populations in the South Florida region who have a strong interest in topics essentially relating to the body-mind-culture nexus. These topics include health and illness, fitness and disability, body image in art and culture, fashion, cosmetics, athletics, nutrition, sexuality and gender, sensorimotor learning and therapies, performance arts, martial arts, spirituality and meditation, and other body-mind disciplines (Western and non-Western). The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture is the initiative of the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities, Richard Shusterman, who is also its director.Ìý