David Armstrong described in his brilliant book A New History of Identity how exercise and specifically posture had been utilised as tools of social engineering in the late 19th century (Armstrong 2002). When we think of a person's attitude today, we often think of it as being about their response to authority, but it was originally a term used to describe a child's standing posture. Towards the end of the 1800s governments throughout Europe and North America grew increasingly concerned about the fitness and strength of its citizens and began to think about ways to discipline children before they became slovenly. Military-style drilling and massed social calisthenics were encouraged, … [Read more...] about Reading personality into people’s movements
Desperate, angry, confused? Sociology can help
For the last two years I've been the academic leader of a team of psychologists and psychotherapists. Part of my reason for taking the role was to move away from physiotherapy for a while, and one of the things I've learnt is how much of what the 'pay' disciplines do should be a standard part of the physiotherapy curriculum and scope of practice. How on earth physiotherapists managed to survive for 100 years without exploring transference and counter-transference is beyond me. But one of the things that characterises many of the psy approaches to health and wellbeing is that they will look to the psyche and the mind for the answers to people's despair, anger and confusion. Today I … [Read more...] about Desperate, angry, confused? Sociology can help
What should critical physiotherapy do for you?
There have been a few occasions over the last few months when people within the Critical Physiotherapy Network have been asked to do more for physiotherapy. The first time happened after our CPN Salon in Cape Town last year. Our esteemed colleague Professor Dina Brooks began the discussion by asking the CPN to do more to help mainstream physiotherapists make complex theories and philosophies more accessible. In her Reflections of a quantitative researcher on the CPN Salon, posted in July last year, Dina argued that the CPN risked functioning like a 'club' that excluded those who didn't subscribe to its principles. One of Dina's arguments at the time was that the CPN should build … [Read more...] about What should critical physiotherapy do for you?
