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

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-a-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 undervalued.