And now I am going walking: Body learning in diabetes education

Abstract

This thesis, 'And now I am going walking: body learning in diabetes education' is a feminist poststructural exploration of body learning in diabetes education. It starts with the research question "How do we learn our bodies and what does this reveal about diabetes education?" and concludes with a set of principles for learning and teaching diabetes education that can be applied to any aspect of learning the body. The thesis looks at the ways feminist poststructural theory is, and can be, applied to the very practical considerations of body learning. Data is gathered from personal observation, interviews, informal conversations, and print based diabetes education materials. The main analytical strategy is to place bodily experience at the centre of analysis and to read the body as both text and analytical tool. It employs a range of different writing genres including poetry, a play, short stories and personal journal writing as well as expository academic text. The research found that an understanding of site is necessary to reveal the ways that some knowledge's are privileged over others. In the process of creating identities people in the medical site both include and simultaneously exclude people with diabetes. The body and embodiment are central in understanding any process of diabetes education. In body learning play and playfulness are aspects of transformational learning of new subjectivities. This writing opens up possibilities for understanding intertextually the profound nature of body learning as learning about the condition of being alive, far beyond the scope of learning to live with diabetes.