Caitlin Coker

I am an anthropologist, A common image of anthropology is that we study different cultures and compare their characteristics, but that is no longer the case, The anthropology that I know and practice is one in which I am not looking for knowledge about a certain place or a specific people but instead am trying to produce wisdom through doing something together with someone. In the past, I danced and spoke with the performers who developed the avant-garde performance form Ankoku Butoh in Japan; from them I learned an unconventional way of thinking about the body, and from their world of dance I realized a fresh way of thinking about how the body moves and how that movement brings forth reality. Currently, I am researching pole dance in Japan, and through this practice I have so far written and presented about eroticism and physical pain. In my classes, I have been incorporating movement and physical experience as a tool for experimental thinking.