The researcher of human systems is both choreographer and chorographer

The paper will refer to research work that illustrates the researcher as chorographer (one practised in the art of systematic description of regions) and choreographer (one practised in the design of dance arrangements) of the emotions. The authors experienced this transformation when they developed and tested a conversational model of learning and change based on the biological systems work of Chilean scientist Humberto Maturana. Hawkesbury Agricultural College (which became part of the University of Western Sydney in 1989) was a fertile field for research and consulting that understood learning as change taking place in a relational space, over time, and as a consequence of engagements shaped by the participants' emotions. The use of participatory and collaborative methods to bring about change demanded an explanatory system that located the usefulness of these practices in what was understood as the biology of living systems and cognitive science.