Abstract
In this article a group of professionals working in education and health care exploreprofessional practices and interactions from a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Maxvan Manen’s conceptualization of the phenomenology of practice and his knowledge interestin understanding and furthering sensitive, caring professional practice. Posing the questionwhat is the meaning of interaction in encounters within education and health care, we lookat practice experiences drawn from close observations and interviews during researchconcerning special needs education, physiotherapy and weight loss programs. Three anecdotesare offered as a way to ‘show,’ rather than interpret, the processes involved. Each anecdote isfollowed by reflections in which we draw on van Manen’s notion of pathic knowledge andNancy’s ideas about co-existence to develop phenomenological insights about temporal,embodied and relational qualities of the phenomenon of interaction in professional practice.Such interaction seems to involve continuous negotiation. It emerges as a process of exchange,a movement back and forth between supporting and letting oneself be supported; betweenconfronting and being confronted; between pushing and being pushed. Moments of active engagement give way to periods of waiting for the other to act. The experience is one ofcontinuous back and forth movement in the relational space in-between.
Highlights
Address[es] and serve[s] the practices of professional practitioners as well as the quotidian practices of everyday life
In this article we explore the meaning of interaction in education and health care encounters from a phenomenological perspective
This phenomenology of practice is meant to refer to the practice of phenomenological research and writing that reflects on and in practice, and prepares for practice
Summary
Address[es] and serve[s] the practices of professional practitioners as well as the quotidian practices of everyday life. For the purposes of our cooperative research, we posed the question: what is the interaction/connection between professionals and patients/ students like in education and health care encounters? For van Manen, writing and rewriting are central to phenomenological research as it goes about systematically exploring meaning structures of the actual phenomenon, situation or event while always seeking expressive means to grasp the pre-reflective substrata of the actual experience.
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