The short video below (its just over 6 mins), previews a new paper (link here) by Bronwyn Davies, who is a fabulous educational thinker and scholar. Here she talks about how it's getting harder and harder to think in a climate that is increasingly anti-intellectual and anti-critique. She suggests that the threats of neo-liberalism reach into all spheres of our life and achieve their effects without us realising their power. Davies calls for a new spirit of critique. … [Read more...] about The (im)possibility of thinking under neoliberalism
What brings someone to the Critical Physiotherapy Network?
A few weeks ago we celebrated one year in the life of our little network and our 300th member. Since our inception we've received countless emails from people saying how glad they are that the network exists, and how nice it is that it's being run by such attractive, intelligent and wise people! (They're particularly complementary about our attractiveness). In all seriousness, it does seem as if the network is an idea whose time has come. Maybe there are enough physiotherapists now with the confidence and experience to tackle some of the thorny questions that now beset us? Maybe knowing that there are other people who think 'differently' has given people encouragement to join in? … [Read more...] about What brings someone to the Critical Physiotherapy Network?
Learning to think otherwise
One of the real pleasures of my job is the chance to supervise students doing lengthy doctoral and masters theses. I have a number of students doing different project, and they seem like the epitome of the kind of close personal relationship at the heart of learning and teaching. I had pause to reflect yesterday on an experience with one of my students who is looking at the way that biomedical discourses have come to dominate the way we think about cancer. He's using the writings of Michel Foucault to guide his thinking and, having no real appreciation for Foucault, he's made really good progress. Throughout his project he's grappled with his own belief that environmental and … [Read more...] about Learning to think otherwise