Symposium 3: Investigating the background – taking a Merleau-Pontian phenomenological approach to Networked Learning

Abstract

This paper is a theoretical paper on phenomenological methodology. My point of departure is Merleau-Ponty’s concept of figure-background in perception and his view of the role which the body has in establishing figure-background in each specific situation. I argue that Merleau-Ponty’s approach differs from other phenomenological approaches because of this focus: his highlighting of the background as essential for understanding what appears as figure to consciousness (the object of experience). His focus on the background has methodological implications for how to investigate a phenomenon (perform phenomenological analyses). A key Merleau-Pontian methodological strategy is to focus on breakdown situations, that is, situations where ordinary practical activity breaks down, because the breakdowns can provide indications about that which is taken for granted in the usual well-performed practical activity. I illustrate what Merleau-Pontian phenomenological analysis within Networked Learning could be with two examples. One is from synchronous online learning situations: the figure of eye contact via a webcam. The other one concerns contemporary renderings of the networked learners in the figure of hybrid networked learning situations of students today. For both examples, I tease out what relevant backgrounds are and how a focus on those backgrounds highlights other aspects in networked learning than the ones other phenomenological analyses focus on.