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ERIC Number: EJ908528
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Dec
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0951-8398
EISSN: N/A
Risky Bodies: Health Surveillance and Teachers' Embodiment of Health
Webb, Louisa; Quennerstedt, Mikael
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v23 n7 p785-802 Dec 2010
In the current climate of health surveillance, governmental measurement and control as well as a focus on individual responsibility for risk are prevalent in school contexts. Physical education is a crucial site for the production and reproduction of health messages and thus is an important location through which health and healthy bodies are constructed and surveilled. Within a broader project with 16 participants in an urban city in the USA, it was found that the work of physical education teachers involved the management of a range of risky bodies--both their own bodies and the bodies of others. Risky bodies were unhealthy bodies, bodies read as overweight, ageing bodies and injured bodies. The physical education teachers' identities were embedded in their desire to embody health but not in simplistic, unified ways. In a climate of health surveillance, the teachers took personal responsibility for managing risk and were both the embodiment of bio-citizens and part of the mechanisms of (re)producing bio-citizens. (Contains 6 notes.)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A