Touching From a Distance: Nursing and Carnal Hermeneutics

Authors

  • Graham McCaffrey University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11575/jah.v0i0.68015

Keywords:

hermeneutics, carnal hermeneutics, nursing, mental health

Abstract

Carnal hermeneutics represents a new development in hermeneutic thinking, extending Merleau-Ponty’s work on embodiment. It is potentially useful for applied hermeneutics in nursing, which is a discipline of caring for and with bodies. In this paper, I take up key essays by Richard Kearney and Brian Treanor that establish themes in carnal hermeneutics, exploring them in relation to nursing. In the first part, I focus on medical nursing using an example from a student nurse’s practice to look at some of characteristics of nursing using a carnal hermeneutics lens. In the second part, the focus is on mental health nursing, considering how Treanor’s field of “new realism(s)” can help to give a fuller account of the physicality inherent in what has become conventionally separated off as “mental” health.

 

Author Biography

Graham McCaffrey, University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing

Associate Professor

References

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Kearney, R. (2015). The wager of carnal hermeneutics. In R. Kearney & B. Treanor (Eds.), Carnal hermeneutics (pp.15-56). New York, NY: Fordham University Press.

Kearney, R., & Treanor, B. (Eds.). (2015). Carnal hermeneutics. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.

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Treanor, B. (2015). Mind the gap: The challenge of matter. In R. Kearney & B. Treanor (Eds.), Carnal hermeneutics (pp. 57-76). New York, NY: Fordham University Press.

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Published

2019-03-29

Issue

2019

Section

Articles

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