Investigating the Background—Taking a Merleau-Pontian Phenomenological Approach to Networked Learning

This chapter is a theoretical investigation of phenomenological methodology. My point of departure is Merleau-Ponty’s view of the role which the body has in establishing the figure-background of perception in each specific situation. I argue that Merleau-Ponty’s approach differs from other phenomenological approaches because he focuses on the background as essential for understanding what appears as figure to consciousness (the object of experience). This focus has methodological implications for how to investigate a phenomenon (perform phenomenological analyses). A key Merleau-Pontian methodological strategy is to focus on breakdown situations (i.e., 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.