The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education.
For the best part of modern history, nursing's education system has tended to fore-ground the pragmatic over the esoteric, the practical over the theoretical and the primacy of character over intellect. As a consequence of this binary logic at work, nursing education inoculated its neophytes with a set of troublesome values about the importance of nursing education vis-à-vis nursing practice and, as a result, created a powerful cultural climate which both wittingly and unwittingly perpetuated the subjugation of nurses to other health professionals rather than the obverse. In this paper, a number of historical educational texts are read from a 'presentist' perspective to illustrate how a certain 'order of things' inscribed itself on the body/subjects of generations of nurses. This history has left an unfortunate legacy that ensures nurses' political voice continues to remain muted and their contribution to healthcare under-recognised and under-valued.
Walker
Kim
K
School of Nursing, Australian Catholic University, Australia.
Holmes
Colin
C
D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male