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Walker K, Holmes C. The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education. Contemp Nurse. 2008;30(2):106-18doi: 10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106.
Walker, K., & Holmes, C. (2008). The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education. Contemporary nurse, 30(2), 106-18. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106
Walker, Kim, and Holmes, Colin. "The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education." Contemporary nurse vol. 30,2 (2008): 106-18. doi: https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106
Walker K, Holmes C. The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education. Contemp Nurse. 2008 Oct;30(2):106-18. doi: 10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106. PMID: 19040378.
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Contemp Nurse. 2008 Oct;30(2):106-18. doi: 10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106.

The 'order of things': tracing a history of the present through a re-reading of the past in nursing education.

Contemporary nurse

Kim Walker, Colin Holmes

Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Australian Catholic University, Australia.

PMID: 19040378 DOI: 10.5172/conu.673.30.2.106

Abstract

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.

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