Phenomenology of Practice (2014) written by Max van Manen incorporates aspects of the study of phenomenology. From page 272 there is discussion about the gnostic and the pathic related to touch occurring in the healthcare setting. Van Manen explains gnostic touch as the diagnostic, anatomized experience of touch. In contrast, pathic touch is described as touch with a special quality that conveys a healing attitude and relates to the individual as an embodied whole. When observing patient-physiotherapist encounters for my PhD research I became fascinated with touch as part of physiotherapy practice. I read Max van Manen’s writing about touch and his ideas resonated with what I had observed … [Read more...] about Amy Hiller – Gnostic and pathic touch – 30DoS #20
Blaise Doran – Healing dramas and clinical plots – 30DoS #19
Healing dramas and clinical plots (1998) is an ethnographic account by anthropologist, Cheryl Mattingly, of occupational therapists’ work in rehabilitation settings during the mid-1980s. She uses diverse sources to support her ideas from literary and narrative theory, phenomenology and hermeneutics, and anthropological perspectives on ritual and narrative. In doing so, she presents the rehabilitation process, and its clinical interactions, as a form of drama, adhering to a socially constructed narrative plot. She proposes that, if narrative (as has been suggested) reflects the lived experience, it does so through narrative drama rather than narrative cohesion. As an undergraduate, I came … [Read more...] about Blaise Doran – Healing dramas and clinical plots – 30DoS #19
Carley King – The sugar conspiracy – 30DoS #18
In this post, CPN member Carley King writes about Ian Leslie's article The Sugar Conspiracy. This “long read” article from the Guardian outlines how in 1972, John Yudkin raised concerns about sugar being the greatest danger to our health instead of fat. However, his research findings were ridiculed, and fat continued to be labelled as the likely cause of obesity and the numerous conditions associated with obesity. It outlines how the scientific community embraced a certain school of thought and disregarded any subsequent evidence that suggested otherwise, i.e. saturated fats are particularly bad for your health. It suggests that this tide of movement was predominantly driven by … [Read more...] about Carley King – The sugar conspiracy – 30DoS #18
