Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of physical embodiment in human-agent interaction. Experiment 1 (N = 32) shows positive effects of physical embodiment on the feeling of an agent’s social presence, the evaluation of the agent, the assessment of public opinion on the agent, and the evaluation of the interaction with the agent. A path analysis reveals that the feeling of the agent’s social presence mediates the participants’ evaluation of the social agent. Experiment 2 (N = 32) shows that physical embodiment with restricted tactile interaction causes null or even negative effects in human-agent interaction. In addition, Experiment 2 indicates that lonely people feel higher social presence of social agents, and provide more positive social responses to social agents than non-lonely people. The importance of physical embodiment and tactile communication in human-agent interaction and diverse role of social robots, especially for the lonely population, are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper takes a clue from the incipient movement in the social sciences aiming to complement the traditional preoccupation with discursive dimensions of cultural life with the embodied forms of social phenomena. In particular, it seeks to extend the “paradigm of embodiment” and the pragmatist notion of “bodymind” to interpretation theory, suggesting the way we can turn body and emotion into a hermeneutical resource. The discussion begins with the classical tradition which equates meaning with logical sense and then contrasts this theoretical commitment with the pragmatism-inspired approach that brings into the interpretation process somatic, emotional, and behavioral signs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper will explore past and contemporary ethnic, religious, and cultural relationships between coastal Aboriginals in Baja and Alta California. The discussion will initiate by phenomenologicaly positioning the Aboriginal expression on the west coast of Alta and Baja California, within a Pacific Rim political dynamic. Examining the pre-colonial genealogical and ideological flow, the discussion will comparatively ebb out colonizing disruptions in cultural production during the contemporary period.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores the use of image theatre and forum theatre in the law school environment, and particularly the use of embodied theatre techniques to confront issues of racism and anti-racism in the lived experience of law. The paper will be presented to engage the audience in the techniques of image theatre, and to enable a rethinking of approaches to questions that centre law's embodiment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper argues that subordination of “body” in a Cartesian duality has drawn American culture and western political thought into problematic underlying contradictions whereby violent occurrences, such as rape, are treated as mental phenomena, despite the overwhelming role and presence of “body” in these events. I utilize Freud, Susan Bordo, and John Searle in seeking out potential ways to integrate the unknown, the physical “body”, into critical theory.