"Peeling an onion": Layering as a methodology to promote embodied perspectives in video analysis

This article proposes a methodological framework for analyzing video by adopting an embodied perspective. In order to deal with researching the complexity of human interaction that has been captured on video, structured ways for analysis are needed. In this article, the metaphor of an onion is used to conceptualize the process of unpacking the layers of observed interactions on video. Four different layers are identified: Foregrounding bodies, considering talk in combination with body, including the environment, and depth and adjustment through participant perspectives. To illustrate the process of analysis through this methodological approach, a worked example of video observations featuring classroom interaction is presented. While analysis of video through the step-by-step process in four layers is laborious, it is forcing the researcher to break with the habit of privileging talk as the base-line for analysis, sensitizing the analytical process towards non-verbal dimensions of interaction, while bringing in material dimensions, as well as the voices of participants in order to understand embodied interaction as situated activity.