Exposed methodology: The body as a deconstructive practice

Abstract

This article explores what it means to work from the body methodologically as a site of deconstructive practice. The body is not an uncontested site- it is a troublesome site particularly for women. The author asks how can the body be used- both with and against itself- as a site of explicit exposure, in this case, to expose conflictual and obscured stories about young women who are mothers and the programs that serve them. Two exposures are presented: the first includes accounts of how resistance is played out through the body by teen girls and of how their bodies provide a place to align and support difference. The second exposure describes how pregnant teen girls' bodies literally and figuratively adapt to and resist their physical environment and how the physical setting impacts on curriculum and pedagogical practices.