University of Gothenburg
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Helena Dahlberg

Senior Lecturer

Learning and Leadership for Health Care Professionals
Telephone
+46 31-786 61 95
+46 766-18 61 95
Mail
helena.dahlberg@gu.se
Visiting address
Arvid wallgrens backe hus 1 och 2
41346 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 457
40530 Göteborg

About Helena Dahlberg

Helena Dahlberg is an Associate Professor in Caring Science, Phil. Dr. in History of ideas, MS in Philosophy, as well as a Feldenkrais pedagogue

My research has been characterized by scientific theory, but initiated by both caring science, pedagogy and learning. My interest is the relationship between theory and practice in both scientific knowledge and knowledge of care. I have investigated the tension between the practical doing in e.g. drama education and Feldenkrais and the theoretical knowledge within epistemology and phenomenology. I search for the point between doing and knowing, between the practical performance and reflections on this performance.

My research also examines qualitative methodology and I have participated in the development of an empirical research approach, based on phenomenological and hermeneutic philosophy. This approach has been published in scientific literature (Reflective Lifeworld Research, 2008) and several articles. The research within qualitative methodology has, among other things, focused on the meaning of evidence and therefore included aspects of the researcher's openness, as well as the problem that has been linked to the distinction between description and interpretation in phenomenological/hermeneutic research. It is above all the duality of the lived body as both subjective and objective, familiar and unfamiliar, active and passive, that has engaged me, as well as what this means for research and learning. Based on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology on embodiment, I have worked with aspects of corporeality, intentionality and intersubjectivity, and how they influence and develop both empirical research projects and learning, e.g. in nursing education.

I teach drama education (which includes Feldenkrais), theory of science, qualitative methodology and phenomenological epistemology and ontology. Within the drama education, the teaching involves both practical doings and reflection, where the aim is to let the students explore the drama exercises, and to feel confidence in themselves and the others in the room. The reflections in drama education are both exploring and fruitful, where the students are able to process their own experiences and carry them forward towards a different understanding of the theoretical knowledge. The drama education has been useful also for scientific theory and qualitative methodology, where experience and reflection also develop theoretical knowledge.

I have taught both in Sweden and abroad, e.g. postgraduates and students in nursing, architects, physiotherapists and psychologists, as well as students in global studies, interactive design and art science. Research and teaching are based on my life task; to develop education in both theory and practice, between doing and reflecting on this doing.

Keywords Lived body, theory-practice, qualitative approach, qualitative method, phenomenology, Merleau-Ponty