Steven P. Wainwright

‘Just Crumbling to Bits’? An Exploration of the Body, Ageing, Injury and Career in Classical Ballet Dancers

Ballet is, for reasons that are unclear, a neglected topic in the sociology of the body. Our article works on three levels: firstly, as an account of ex-dancers’‘lived experience’ of embodiment; secondly, as an application of Bourdieu’s theoretical schema; and thirdly, as a philosophically grounded critique of radical social constructionist views of the body.We describe Royal Ballet dancers’ perceptions of their bodies, of ageing, of injury and of their careers.We draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and cultural capital in our investigation of embodiment. Ageing and injury are potential epiphanies that encourage dancers to reflect on their embodied habitus and their career. We argue that the decline in a dancer’s physical capital undermines radical social constructionist views.This study, although set within the narrow field of dance, illuminates the broader relationships between the body, self, and society.

Epiphanies of embodiment: Injury, identity and the balletic body.

Our ethnography of the balletic body is a contribution to the relatively small corpus of empirical research studies on embodiment in general and on dance as a social practice in particular. In contrast, much of the literature on the sociology of the body is characterized by its theoretical discussion of the nature of the body. We draw upon our fieldwork at the Royal Ballet (London) where we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with ballet staff, and where we also watched ‘the company at work’(in class, rehearsal and performance). We explored the perceptions, of their bodies and dancing careers, of both dancers (n= 9) and ex-dancers (n=11: who are now teachers, administrators and character artists with the company). Furthermore, we especially focused upon the epiphanies of injury and ageing that endanger their balletic vocation, and that may even threaten their personal identity. Although our ethnography of the balletic body is set within the elite and narrow cultural field of dance, we hope that our research is also an appealing and constructive adjunct to discussions on the interactions between self and society; the body and culture; embodiment and identity; and individuals and institutions. Our article is one example of our broader research programme on the embodiment of vulnerability in the arts, medicine and society.

Fractured identities: injury and the balletic body

Social worlds shape human bodies and so it is inevitable that there are strong relationships between the body, professional dance and identity. In this article we draw on Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, and various forms of capital, as the main theoretical framework for our discussion. Our ethnography of the balletic body elicited dancers and ex-dancers’ perceptions of their bodies and sought to reveal some of the facets of their embodied habitus. The sheer physicality of their working lives - of feeling exhausted, sweaty and out of breath - is something dancers (like all athletes) become ‘addicted to’. Ageing and injury can reveal this compulsion to dance and so dancers invariably find it very difficult to, for example, give up class once they retire from the stage; or miss a performance if they have a ‘slight injury’. In other words, the vocational calling to dance is so overwhelming that their balletic body is their identity. In addition, there is an unremitting loop between individual habitus and institutional habitus (the ballet company), which affects both the meaning and management of injury. All our informants at the Royal Ballet (London: n = 20) had suffered dance injuries. The injured, dancing body is perceived as an inevitable part of a career in ballet. Everyone spoke of the improved athleticism of dancers, and of the expansion in facilities to maintain healthy dancers. However, most dancers can expect several major injuries during their careers. Such epiphanies force dancers to confront their embodiment, and their thoughts invariably turn to their body, career and self. Critical injuries threaten to terminate a dancer’s career and so endanger their embodied sense of self. On a more everyday level, dancing and performing with painful, niggling injuries is the norm.

Varieties of habitus and the embodiment of ballet

The overall aim of our research was to produce an ethnography of ballet as a social practice. We draw upon our fieldwork at the Royal Ballet (London) where we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with ballet staff, and observed ‘the company at work’, in class, rehearsal, and performance. We explored dancers’ (n = 9) and ex-dancers’ (who are now administrators, teachers, and character dancers: n = 11) perceptions of their bodies, dancing careers, and the major changes that have occurred in the world of ballet over their professional lives. In this article, we draw upon Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, physical capital and cultural capital. The main focus of our article is an extended discussion of our threefold distinction between individual habitus, institutional habitus and choreographic habitus. Although our ethnography of the body is set within the elite cultural field of professional classical ballet, we hope that our research adds to debates on the interrelationships between individuals and institutions, the body and society, and on the salience of Bourdieu’s notion of habitus for understandings of the social world.

Human embryos as boundary objects? Some reflections on the biomedical worlds of embryonic stem cells and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

In this paper we offer some reflections on embryos in the biomedical worlds of embryonic stem cells (ESC) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). We draw upon two ethnographic studies of the social practices of PGD and embryonic stem cell science to examine the notion of boundary objects as an approach for understanding the social construction of embryos. We analyze the ways in which human embryos have similar and different meanings in the related social worlds of ESC and PGD labs through a discussion of two major themes: the goals of PGD and ESC; and linking the worlds of ESC and PGD. We suggest the interface between the two cultures of PGD and ESC science can facilitate the flow of concepts, skills, materials and techniques within and between these two social worlds. In conclusion, we argue this is a salient case study of the production of biomedicine as a social and material practice in the emerging sphere of new medical technologies.

Reflections on embodiment and vulnerability

Bodies matter as our experience of them is the basis both for social life and also for much medical and social research. There has been a spectacular increase in academic research on the body in the last twenty years or so. This paper—although a review of three ethnographic studies on the seemingly disparate and narrow fields of the embodiment of working class experience, boxing, and ballet—illuminates the broader relationships between the body, self, and society. Our paper works on three levels: firstly, as an account of the “lived experience” of embodied vulnerability; secondly, as an application of Bourdieu’s theoretical schema, and thirdly, as a philosophically grounded critique of radical social constructionist views of the body.

Endotracheal suctioning in adults with severe head injury: literature review

Endotracheal suctioning is a routine but potentially dangerous nursing procedure. The research literature documenting approaches to minimising the complications of endotracheal suctioning in adults with severe head injuries is reviewed. Hyperoxygenation, hyperventilation, hyperinflation, normal saline instillation and the effects of endotracheal suctioning on intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure are examined. Recommendations for an evidence-based endotracheal suctioning protocol are made.

Science studies in physical geography An idea whose time has come

Science studies perspectives are largely absent in research on the making of physical geography. In this paper I outline literature from the history and sociology of science that may prove useful both in filling this gap, and in ‘bridging the divide’ between human and physical geography. I begin with an overview of work that argues for science studies in human geography, physical geography and the history of geology. I then discuss a series of science studies approaches that address questions such as the following. How are the social worlds of science constituted? How do new scientific disciplines emerge and change? How do different groups in a discipline view/contest research? How are scientific identities and careers formed? How does laboratory culture shape the practice of science? How is science distinguished from non-science? How do scientific biographies reflect and change the ‘spirit of the age’? Drawing on a biographical science studies approach, I examine key aspects of the life and work of the eminent river scientist Luna Leopold (1915–2006). This then leads to a discussion of the geographical imagination, and particularly how this is grounded in the sociological imagination – where history and biography are entwined. I argue that Leopold’s life and writings provide valuable insights into developing ‘the geographical imagination’. In conclusion, my aim is to encourage students and researchers in the three fields of human geography, physical geography and science studies to use the ‘view from the river’ of science studies in research on the making and shaping of physical geography.

Spaces of speech and places of performance: an outline of a geography of science approach to embryonic stem cell research and diabetes

In this paper we develop a geography of science framework to examine the social, scientific and medical dimensions of human embryonic stem cell research. We outline David Livingstones approach to geographies of science as “sites of speech and locations of locution” to explore the spatial shaping of science and the scientific shaping of space. Drawing upon our ongoing research on the problems and prospects of stem cell science, particularly the interactions between the bench and the bedside in the field of diabetes, we examine the influence of seminal papers on laboratory and clinical practices, and the subsequent transformation of the spaces of science on several spatial scales. We investigate the laboratory production of scientific knowledge, particularly how scientists choose which research to pursue in “scientific-landscapes-in-the-making”. Finally, we explore how diverse disciplinary spaces deconstruct the stem cell transplant approach to diabetes. In conclusion, we argue that this “places of performance” perspective proffers a productive approach to understanding the shaping of contested “embryonic landscapes”.

Remaking the body? Scientists' genetic discourses and practices as examples of changing expectations on embryonic stem cell therapy for diabetes

Abstrat In this paper we discuss genetic discourses and practices in stem cell science. We report on how biomedical scientists, in both the UK and the USA, view the scientific literature and their own experimental research in the emerging field of human embryonic stem (hES) cells. We focus on the genetic manipulation of stem cells to make specialized (beta) cells as a potential cure for diabetes. We draw on Gieryns notion of boundary work as an analytical motif, and suggest this is a productive way to theorize boundary crossings in the shifting landscapes of expectations in the field of new medical technologies. We argue that initial expectations of a revolution in regenerative medicine have been damped down by the difficulties of making insulin producing pancreatic beta cells from stem cells. We contend the consequent shifts in expectations have led to the emergence of other more radical experimental strategies (such as using oncogenes) in the search for potential cures for Type 1 diabetes. In conclusion, we argue that regenerative medicine is a fruitful example of the shaping of contested biomedical landscapes and we contend that embryonic stem cells are a productive case study of the interactions between genetics, science and society.