A friend of mine recently sent me this cartoon after hearing me talk about some work that I've been doing looking at the history of physical therapies in New Zealand in the 19th century (in short - there was none). It got me thinking about the lack of really good critical historical work in physiotherapy; the kind of thing that goes beyond just the linear narrative of one event following another and, instead, tells you something about the conditions that made the present possible. There are some really stunning historical works in health and medicine, particularly around how we have come to understand the body and health care (see a very selective sample of references below), but it … [Read more...] about Doomed to repeat
Sociology of bio-knowledge at the limits of life
The March special issue of the Journal of Sociology has a special issue edited by Emma Kowal and the ever-excellent Alan Petersen, from Deakin and Monash Universities in Australia exploring the sociology of 'bio-knowledge,' and so may be of real interest to physiotherapists. Kowal and Petersen's editorial offers a potted history of sociology's interest in the field and provides some very useful references. The editorial is reproduced below, and an index of the full edition of the journal can be found here (link). Sociology of bio-knowledge at the limits of life In what has been called ‘the century of biology’ (Venter and Cohen, 2004), the reach of the ‘bio’ seems limitless. This prefix … [Read more...] about Sociology of bio-knowledge at the limits of life
What do Pixar movies and physiotherapy have in common?
A post by James Douglas July 15, 2015 on The Awl website last week titled 'The Pixar Theory of Labor' (link) made some interesting connections between the ethos of Pixar movies (Toy Story, Wall-E, Brave, Monsters Inc., and the new Inside Out, for example) and a productivist culture. What was really interesting for me reading this post though, was how much Pixar's movie motives are shared by physiotherapists. Douglas's thesis (and it's well worth reading the whole piece because it's very funny as well as being very insightful), is that Pixar trades on characters that are striving to achieve; Pixar has created a stable of films for children that is founded on narratives of … [Read more...] about What do Pixar movies and physiotherapy have in common?