More‐than‐Representational Knowledge/s of the Countryside: How We Think as Bodies

Abstract

AbstractThe empirical hypothesis that is explored in this article is: if we think with our bodies then we must think about the countryside with our bodies too. Working toward this end, the article begins by briefly reviewing the literature on embodied knowledge. From here, attention turns to the rough, empirical ground of everyday life. Before doing this, however, discussion centres briefly on methods, where the methodological implications of studying the ‘more‐than‐representational’ are discussed. The remainder of the article is devoted to examining the findings of fieldwork conducted in rural Iowa. In this discussion, attention centres specifically on how understanding the countryside is an embodied, lived event.