Gareth's+comment+for+ali+memo+5-9

Comments for Ali

I had a much longer version of these first two questions, but I am too stupid to have swapped out my half dead hard drive, and it crashed and I lost it. So here is the second version. In fact this short version may be too long.. but forgive me.

1 What is Body work, what is yoga, why these two things? The description of your subject as body work and yoga needs to be expanded. They are both categories that can cover a wide range of practice. Some “body work” is highly biomedicalized massage therapeutics, some is spiritually centered (i.e. Reiki)… some body work is primarily social (i.e. therapeutic touch aimed to cancel the emotional distance and lack of touch in society) others is highly materialistic and physiological (i.e. Swedish and Japanese deep tissue massage techniques… how do you handle the internal difference in each category? I have friends who have gone through different programs in body work and had very different experiences, and with your interest in pedagogy the teaching and institutional differences in underlying philosophy may be important. Similarly, I am not a member of your community of practice, and I don’t see Yoga and Bodywork as being particularly closely related. What do you think the connection is? Or is it intended as a comparative approach between two groups of very different practices. I would strongly caution you about making an association between the transcendental meditation movement of the 60’s that the beatles are associated with, and yoga as you sort of do in your history memo.

2 I don’t see as clear a connection between neoliberalism and these two sets of practices as I do with something like naturopathy, which has a longer history in the US, and is more centralized as an economic institution. What makes these particularly good sites for discussion of neoliberalism as opposed to the many other alternative health systems. Also in your delineating memo you suggest that the increase in practice of “eastern bodywork traditions” is a result of neoliberalism?

3 I am a little confused and hope that you can expand and articulation that explains your question “How does learning happen through body relations?” and the statement that “a mechanism for understanding and constructing change through the body” seem to need some explaining. The question suggests that you are asking about the role of body in the teaching of practice, and I want to recommend Waquant’s book. But to some extent I don’t know what “body relations” means when you mention it. The statement that body work (and to some extent by extension all alternative health treatment) is a “mechanism” for making “change” rings strangely. Is it that you are suggesting all uses of Yoga constitute some sort of social movment to challenge dominant ideas of health through their bodily practice?

Personally I think specific attention to the different components of these systems is a really important part of your project, these systems have a variety of metaphysic, ethic, practice, concept of physiology, etc… and your whole project is great, but needs to pay attention to the heterogeneity. I think the rough juxtaposition of alternative/biomedical that you frame in your memos is a heuristic but I think the strength of your position as an STS scholar is to attend to these multiple levels.