Kristin Vindhol Evensen

Associate Professor Department of Teacher Education and Outdoor Studies

Email: kristinve@nih.no
Phone: +47 23 26 22 64

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Background and experience

Kristin Vindhol Evensen in an assoicate professor at the Department of Teacher Education and Outdoor Studies.

Evensen is a kindergarden teacher from Oslo Meteropolitan University, has a minor degree in adapted physical activity from the Norwegian school of sport sciences, a masters degree in special needs education from the University of Oslo and a PhD in sport sciences from the Norwegian school of sport sciences. Evensen has alternated between practical pedagogical work in schools and kindergardens and higher education, and have special interest in how body and movement are foundational for communication when persons have intellectual disabilities. Her professional fundament builds on acknowledging that subjective movements are foundational when humans relate to each other.

Teaching

Pedagogy, inclusive physical education, supervision for bachelor- and master thesis, physical education and sports for persons with disabilities, perspectives on disabilities and interaction, embodied learning

Research

Qualitative methods, phenomenology of perception, phenomenology of practice, embodiment, queer-theory, crip-theory, disability studies, intellectual disabilities, severe and multiple disabilities

Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Skarsaune, Synne Nese (2026). Researching non-symbolic lifeworlds supported by Merleau-Ponty’s methodology. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability. ISSN 1366-8250. p. 1–11. doi: 10.3109/13668250.2026.2722816. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Background: This article demonstrates the value of applying phenomenology in qualitative early childhood disability research. It offers methodological guidance for disability scholars to supportthe inclusion of the perspectives of people who communicate non-symbolically.Method: Drawing on the film The Humming Child (Sundby, 2011), which portrays Agnes, a younggirl with complex intellectual disabilities, we use essential elements of Merleau-Ponty’s extensive work to propose four applied phenomenological methodological cues: “Embodied expressivity is valid,” “Make yourselves visible,” “Accept the possibilities for ambiguity,” and “Address vulnerability to ensure ethically sound projects.”Results: These methodological cues show that embodied phenomenology is valuable in countering dominant scientific epistemologies in disability research, including research involving people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Expanding epistemological limits to generate valid knowledge can include those previously omitted.Conclusion: Merleau-Ponty’s embodied phenomenology offers valuable methodological insights for understanding non-symbolic perspectives expressed through movement
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Ytterhus, Borgunn (2026). Embodied expressiveness: Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities’ interactions with professionals. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability. ISSN 1366-8250. doi: 10.3109/13668250.2026.2705627. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article addresses epistemological challenges arising when children who communicate through gestures are excluded from disability research. We encourage researchers to incorporate the gestures of these children into future research projects. Method By methodically analysing embodied phenomenological anecdotes and considering the works of Merleau-Ponty and Foucault, we illustrate how professionals foster embodied interactions and use queer objects in educational settings. Results The results show how professional practitioners exhibited perception, patience and interpretation of the children’s gestures, which seem reliable due to the value of everyday life experiences. Conclusion Perception, patience and interpretation can serve as key methodological cornerstones for qualitative researchers aiming to expand epistemologies. When epistemologies expand, power is redistributed, allowing researchers to learn from others close to children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and to investigate their lifeworlds.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2025). What Is Expressed Through Non-Symbolic Movements in Warm Water? A Phenomenological Study of Embodied Expressivity When People Have Intellectual Disabilities and Additional Diagnoses. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. ISSN 1501-7419. 27(1), p. 728–740. doi: 10.16993/sjdr.1311. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this article, I examine how four men with moderate, severe, or profound intellectual disabilities, along with additional diagnoses, express their experiences while moving in a warm water pool. Using embodied phenomenology and the phenomenology of water as a theoretical framework, and the phenomenology of perception and the phenomenology of practice as methodological tools, I argue that movement is a valid form of expressivity and communication. By asking what is expressed through non-symbolic movements in warm water, I question how disability researchers typically include participants capable of symbolic communication. When those who cannot communicate symbolically are included in research, their perspectives are often interpreted and conveyed by proxies. This article examines how embodied freedom, shaped by a non-interventional approach to movement, fosters expressive possibilities even when disabilities are complex. This illustrates a possible epistemological shift in disability research.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Larsson, Nils Håkan Olof & Strømman, Elise (2025). “They’re Rubbing it in my Face.” A study of Embodiment When Being Trans in PE. Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum. 16, p. 75–97. doi: 10.24834/sssf.16.75. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Research that investigates the impact of heteronormativity on physical education (PE) is extensive. In this peer review article, Kristin Vindhol Evensen, Håkan Larsson and Elisa Strømman expand previous knowledge that describes PE as heteronormative, binary, and hierarchical by offering phenomenological analyses of transgender people’s experiences of PE. Where previous research has focused on structural binary arrangements in PE, this article describes the embodied experiences of such arrangements.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2023). Spesialpedagogikk og kropper i bevegelse, Bevegelsesfellesskap i oppveksten : kritiske perspektiver på inkludering og mangfold. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245041415. p. 347–363. doi: 10.55669/oa230118. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2023). The Rights of the Child When Symbolic Language is Out of Reach. In Beckett, Angharad & Callus, Anne-Marie (Ed.), The Routledge international handbook of children's rights and disability. Routledge. ISSN 9780367521530. p. 265–280. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2021). Children with Severe, Multiple Disabilities. In Ødegaard, Elin Eriksen & Borgen, Jorunn Spord (Ed.), Childhood Cultures in Transformation 30 Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Action towards Sustainability. Brill | Sense. ISSN 9789004445666. p. 54–73. doi: 10.1163/9789004445666_004. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This book investigates and uncover paradoxes and ambivalences that are actualised when seeking to make the right choices in the best interests of the child. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established a milestone for the 20th century. Many of these ideas still stand, but time calls for new reflections, empirical descriptions and knowledge as provided in this book. Special attention is directed to the conceptualisation of children and childhood cultures, the missing voices of infants and fragile children, as well as transformations during times of globalisation and change. All chapters contribute to understand and discuss aspects of societal demands and cultural conditions for modern-day children age 0–18, accompanied by pointers to their future. Contributors are: Eli Kristin Aadland, Wenche Bjorbækmo, Jorunn Spord Borgen, Gunn Helene Engelsrud, Kristin Vindhol Evensen, Eldbjørg Fossgard, Liv Torunn Grindheim, Asle Holthe, Liisa Karlsson, Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, Jonatan Leer, Ida Marie Lyså, Elin Eriksen Ødegaard, Czarecah Tuppil Oropilla, Susanne Højlund Pedersen, Anja Maria Pesch, Karen Klitgaard Povlsen, Gro Rugseth, Pauline von Bonsdorff, Hege Wergedahl and Susanne C. Ylönen.
Bentzen, Marte & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2021). “I bow down in awe of them…”: Sports awards for Paralympic athletes and Olympic athletes. Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum. 12, p. 59–84. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Paralympic athletes receive less media attention than Olympic athletes. Further, Olympic athletes are honoured for athletic achievements, whereas Paralympic athletes have been described as victims, suffering or heroic. Following researchers who have approached normativity and compulsory able-bodiedness in the light of hegemony and sub-hegemony, the current study explores whether sports media are sluggish when presenting athletes with disabilities, or if the picture is a more nuanced one. The context studied was the Norwegian Sports Awards (2001–2018). All introductions to the awards of the following categories were transcribed: Best male athlete, best female athlete, best Paralympian (2002–2012)/best male Paralympian and best female Paralympian (2013–2018). A six-step reflexive inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data (Braun & Clarke, 2019). The results indicated that the introduction of elite athletes with disabilities had some prominent hallmarks. Athletes with disabilities (‘they’) are different from those living without disabilities (‘us’). Athletes with disabilities are inspiring. Achievements of athletes with disabilities are placed in the shade, while disabilities are placed to the fore. An overall hegemony shows when best male and best female athlete are introduced: Female athletes are, to a large degree, described as developing and joked about in sexual manners, whereas male athletes are world-leading. This study provides the opportunity to learn from examples that balance the recognition of elite athletes with disabilities experiencing challenges in daily living with recognition of their athletic achievements. Thus, we suggest that this study adds nuance to the previous research within this context.
Bjorbærkmo, Wenche Schrøder; Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Groven, Karen Synne; Rugseth, Gro & Standal, Øyvind Førland (2018). Phenomenology of Professional Practices in Education and Health Care: An Empirical Investigation. Phenomenology & Practice. 12(1), p. 18–30. doi: 10.29173/pandpr29355. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this article a group of professionals working in education and health care explore professional practices and interactions from a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Max van Manen’s conceptualization of the phenomenology of practice and his knowledge interest in understanding and furthering sensitive, caring professional practice. Posing the question what is the meaning of interaction in encounters within education and health care, we look at practice experiences drawn from close observations and interviews during research concerning special needs education, physiotherapy and weight loss programs. Three anecdotes are offered as a way to ‘show,’ rather than interpret, the processes involved. Each anecdote is followed by reflections in which we draw on van Manen’s notion of pathic knowledge and Nancy’s ideas about co-existence to develop phenomenological insights about temporal, embodied and relational qualities of the phenomenon of interaction in professional practice. Such interaction seems to involve continuous negotiation. It emerges as a process of exchange, a movement back and forth between supporting and letting oneself be supported; between confronting and being confronted; between pushing and being pushed. Moments of active engagement give way to periods of waiting for the other to act. The experience is one of continuous back and forth movement in the relational space in-between.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Standal, Øyvind Førland & Ytterhus, Borgunn (2017). Golden Paper, a Chain and a Bag: A Phenomenology of Queer Things in a Special Needs Education Unit. Phenomenology & Practice. 11(2), p. 60–69. doi: 10.29173/pandpr29351. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Children naturally play with things in both expected and unexpected ways. A stick, a spoon, or a chain of pearls may each seem to contain a goldmine of possibilities for the individual child. Every child encounters an object according to their own predilections and abilities. Some children, due to severe and multiple disabilities, are restricted in their possibilities to approach certain things. In this paper, we explore the existential meaning of “queer things” as a way to understand how two children with disabilities reach out to objects in an educational space, where they relate to themselves, to things, as well as to others.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Standal, Øyvind Førland (2017). “I Guess that the Greatest Freedom ...”: A Phenomenology of Spaces and Severe Multiple Disabilities. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology. ISSN 2079-7222. 17(2). doi: 10.1080/20797222.2017.1356628. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This paper expresses wonder about how bodies in motion can lead towards an understanding of lived meaning in silent lifeworlds. In such lifeworlds, expressions are without words, pre-symbolic, and thus embodied. To address the wonder, phenomenological philosophy and phenomenological methodology were employed to frame an approach that acknowledges lives with disabilities as qualitatively different from, and yet not inferior to, nor less imbued with meaning than, lives without.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Ytterhus, Borgunn & Standal, Øyvind Førland (2017). “He is not crying for real”: severe, multiple disabilities and embodied constraint in two special-needs education units. Society, Health & Vulnerability. 8(1). doi: 10.1080/20021518.2017.1387474. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Students with severe and multiple disabilities are, according to official Norwegian policies, to be included in ordinary school settings. Yet usually their schooldays are organized differently from those of their non-disabled peers. In this paper the authors aim (1) to identify how embodied meaning unfolds when students with severe and multiple disabilities are fastened in assistive technical devices and (2) to identify how staff respond when students make gestures. Applying the phenomenological philosophy and the phenomenological methodology the authors acknowledge movement as fundamental for the students’ possibilities to express their perspective. Their empirical material describes how possibilities for making gestures are severely limited when students are fastened in devices. To shed light on the staff’s recognition and response as fundamental for interactions when students are under embodied constraint, they have applied Goffman’s interactionism.

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Wilhelmsen, Terese; Berg, Ellen; Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Solstad, Gerd Marie & Thorjussen, Ingfrid M. (2023). Bevegelsesfellesskap i oppveksten : kritiske perspektiver på inkludering og mangfold. Fagbokforlaget. ISBN 9788245041415. 413 p. Full text in Research Archive

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Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Berg, Ellen (2026). Beatles viser kroppsøving på 1960-tallet – noen av utfordringene har vi fortsatt. doi: https:/www.nih.no/om/aktuelt/bloggen/2026/beatles-viser-kroppsoving-pa-1960-tallet-noen-av.html. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Berg, Ellen (2026). Kroppsøvingsfaget i en skole der alle elever skal ha rett på et inkluderende opplæringstilbud. SP Spesialpedagogikk. p. 23–31. Full text in Research Archive
Åmot, Ingvild & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2026). Bokspesial! La oss snakke om: Spesialpedagogikk på barnehagens verdigrunnlag. doi: https:/open.spotify.com/episode/0VkPUczXBrJIcKFdVey1U9?si=ndIfAXSBQ1CvsJP7UGPqpg. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
En podcast hvor innholdet og verdien i fagboka "Spesialpedagogikk på barnehagens verdigrunnlag" blir diskutert
Skarsaune, Synne Kristin Nese & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2026). Å forske på ikke-symbolske livsverdener ved hjelp av Merleau-Pontys metodologi. Full text in Research Archive
Ytterhus, Borgunn & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2025). Epistemological positioning when researching perspectives of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Methodological reflections. Full text in Research Archive
Huseby, Ragne Elise; Aaserud, Geir & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2024). Hvordan ivaretas personvernet til barna som deltar i filmen om barnehagelæreryrket på Utdanning.no? Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Debatt: Hva gjør en barnehagelærer, og hva gjør Utdanning.no?
Huseby, Ragne Elise; Aaserud, Geir & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2024). Feilaktig fremstilling av barnehagelæreryrket. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Debatt: Det er farlig når barnehagelæreryrket blir så feilaktig fremstilt som i filmen «Hva gjør en barnehagelærer».
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Bentzen, Marte (2024). They’re mistaking rugby for basketball! How can this happen when national media cover the Paralympics? – Olympic and Paralympic Analysis. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
As the Paralympics ends with a dazzling closing ceremony, it is time to reflect upon the paradoxical media coverage that has shrouded it. There has been expert opinion, good intentions but at times a serious lapse in knowledge and oversights. Case and point a recent Norwegian newspaper article titled “Brawny in the Olympic shadow. The Paralympics are fantastic but can never be fair”. The text is a tribute to Paralympic achievements and the Paralympic movement, yet look at the caption under this picture saying, “Wheelchair basketball is among the events in Paris”. The picture shows wheelchair rugby players playing with a wheelchair rugby ball with wheelchair rugby equipment in wheelchair rugby chairs. Should we shrug our shoulders if a professional media mistook rugby for basketball in the Olympics? We think not.
Bardal, Marie Aune; Borgen, Marlene Sabo; Samnøy, Hildegunn; Berg, Ellen & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2024). Å tørre å spørre er det viktigste i arbeid med individuell tilrettelegging i høyere utdanning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Tilrettelegging: Da rullestolbrukeren Marie skulle begynne å studere på Norges idrettshøgskole, var spørsmålene mange for alle parter. Svarene kom til underveis, for de skjønte alle at de måtte tørre å spørre.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2023). Presentation The Rights of the Child when Symbolic Language is out of Reach. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol; Thorjussen, Ingfrid M. & Wilhelmsen, Terese (2023). Kritisk blikk på inkludering og mangfold i barn og unges bevegelsesarenaer, Bevegelsesfellesskap i oppveksten : kritiske perspektiver på inkludering og mangfold. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245041415. p. 11–26. doi: https:/oa.fagbokforlaget.no/index.php/vboa/catalog/download/35/55/622?inline=1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Kritiske perspektiver på inkludering og mangfold i barn og unges ulike bevegelsesarenaer er antologiens viktigste omdreiningspunkt. Kritiske blikk på inkludering og mangfold åpner opp for å favne ulike perspektiver samtidig som boka kapsler inn en essens på tvers av disse. Kritisk teori er et korrektiv til urettferdige, marginaliserende og undertrykkende strukturer og praksiser.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Berg, Ellen (2022). Idrett er ikkje betre enn andre fritidsaktivitetar. Full text in Research Archive
Ødegaard, Elin Eriksen; Borgen, Jorunn Spord; Oropilla, Czarecah Tuppil; Pesch, Anja Maria; Grindheim, Liv Torunn & Wergedahl, Hege [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2021). Book Launch - Celebrating 'Childhood Cultures in Transformation - 30 Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Action towards Sustainability'. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The UNCRC was declared in 1989 and reflect ideas of children and childhoods and the world views at the time it was drafted (1979–1989). Many of these ideas and world views still stand, but time calls for new reflections, empirical descriptions and knowledge as provided in this book.
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Bentzen, Marte (2020). Idrettsgallaen som inspirasjonsporno. Full text in Research Archive
Bentzen, Marte & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2019). I'm bending in the dust. An analyses of the Norwegian Sports Awards. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2018). Kropp, bevegelse og kompleks, alvorlig funksjonshemming. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2018). Kroppens fenomenologi – en løfterik tilnærming til før-symbolske perspektiver? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2018). Kropp, bevegelse og kompleks, alvorlig funksjonshemming. Full text in Research Archive
Bentzen, Marte & Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2018). Paraidretten på Galla. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2017). Gymmen er for alle. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2017). Barn med multifunksjonshemming som forskningsdeltakere: Hvorfor, hvordan, hva og hva nå? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2017). What is the pedagogical meaning of active spatiality of situations when students have severe, multiple disabilities? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2017). Hvordan vises kroppslig mening når elever med multifunksjonshemming utfolder seg aktivt i rom? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol & Bentzen, Marte (2017). Gå nært for å se det større? Perspektiver og spennvidde innen forskning om funksjonshemming (Key-note). Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2016). Han gråter ikke ordentlig. Multifunksjonshemming og kroppslig mening. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2016). Bevegelse på egne premisser. Mennesker med utviklingshemming - i bevegelse. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2016). Vekselvirkning. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2016). Students with severe, multiple Impairments and embodied Meaning A Phenomenological Study of Everyday Life in a special needs Education Unit. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2015). What interactions between students and teachers promote embodied learning of students with multiple disability? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2015). Elever med multifunksjonshemming – pedagogisk subjekt eller medisinsk objekt i kroppsøvingsfaget? Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2014). Students with intellectual disabilities and their experiences in physical education- a preliminary presentation of a qualitative study. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2014). Elever med utviklingshemning i kroppsøvingsfaget – en innholdsanalyse. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2013). Et case-studie av elever med utviklingshemning og deres erfaringer av deltagelse i kroppsøving. Full text in Research Archive
Evensen, Kristin Vindhol (2018). Give me a thousand gestures: Embodied meaning and severe, multiple disabilities in segregated special needs education. Norges idrettshøgskole. ISSN 9788250205475. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Paper I: Kristin Vindhol Evensen, Øyvind Førland Standal and Borgunn Ytterhus. Name of paper: "A golden paper, a chain and a bag. The meaning of things in a special needs education unit". Accepted in "Phenomenology & Practice", special issue "Things".

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Published Oct. 17, 2023 1:11 PM - Last modified Mar. 5, 2024 1:38 PM