This is the first of an autobiographical series on my experiences with hearing loss. Posts shall appear every other Friday. PROLOGUE. In my memories, that’s where it all begins. In that little room, or perhaps just a bed, where the green light shone, blinding me to the world. Voices of my father, mother, and nanny came and went.… Continue Reading
Latest in: Monday Series
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As per guidelines for coroner’s inquests, the jury was to view the body and judge their verdict on their observations as well as on the witness depositions and postmortem report. This raises specific questions about the value of medical witnessing, which Thomas Wakley argued was essential for a proper investigation. Yet the cause of death… Continue Reading
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Charles Spradbrow also witnessed Joseph Hall in perfectly good health on Saturday June 22, having had seen him at Turnbull’s ten or twelve times on occasion to be treated for deafness, and was “always very anxious to use the instrument.” Several other individuals—as many as thirty, according to some reports—were also at Turnbull’s that Saturday,… Continue Reading
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Ah, yes, Dear Reader…I have a treat for you for this Monday’s Series! This is something I’ve been researching for the past three years and part of the paper I presented at the Meeting of the Three Societies last summer. I wrote earlier about the inquest into Alexander Turnbull’s practice following the death of his… Continue Reading
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CONCLUSIONS: CONSTRUCTING THE (NAKED) SOCIAL BODY The Transparent Man stands upon a platform, looking upwards to the sky, his arm erected towards the air, as if he’s immersing himself in the light of the sun. He was first unveiled to the public in 1930, a proud recognition of the German hygiene movements. In his transparency,… Continue Reading
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THE SOCIAL BODY The nudists’ efforts to create a fit and racially pure Germany were partly propelled by the strong perception of crisis and the larger Lebensreform movements. It is difficult to separate the ideological basis of nudism from its contextual relationship with the social affairs and political instability that rocked Wilelmine and Weimar Germany;… Continue Reading
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THE NAKED BODY Nacktkultur emerged out of the larger Lebensreform movements of the late 1890s, which sought to improve urban-industrial societies by aiming to expose, and return, the body to a more natural way of living. The popularity of Lebensreform resided in its holistic interpretation of living, one which sought to unite the shattered units… Continue Reading
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THE HISTORY OF THE BODY Before continuing with my examination of the ideology of Nacktkultur and its respective relationships with the social body, I will first briefly outline what constitutes as a history of the body. Scholarship based upon the works of Foucault has emphasized the role of the body as a vehicle of social… Continue Reading
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I wrote this paper for a course on the Philosophy of Nudity at IHPST, directed by Professor Paul Thompson. I truly enjoyed the course, particularly how it introduced me to different perspectives of nudity and nudism as cultural artifacts. “Nudity is a form of dress.” John Berger, Ways of Seeing (1972) INTRODUCTION: THE EMERGENCE OF… Continue Reading
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Conclusions: Disputes and Discourses Whether or not the Wallis-Holder dispute was the central factor, the Royal Society saw a remarkable decline in the focus on language projects as well as instruction for deaf-mutes. Mullett cites several factors that may have contributed to this decline, including the lack of physiological information on deafness, the rise of… Continue Reading
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De loquea While endeavours to create a universal language that was unambiguous and easy to learn were mainly directed toward the application of philosophical principles as outlined by Descartes and Bacon, some philosophers applied these schemes to design educational methods for reading and writing. Although there is a significant lack of literature probing analysis… Continue Reading
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A Society’s Interest A fascination with language in the seventeenth century was spearheaded by philosophers participating in various linguistic projects, some of which questioned the origin of language, delved into the art of cryptography, debated methods of language teaching, and sought to construct a language that would serve as a universal means of communication.[1] The… Continue Reading
From the Hands of Quacks 