Gymnastics - an Emerging National University Discipline - Johannes Lindhard's Struggle to Institutionalise Gymnastics as a Subject at the University of Copenhagen 1909-1940

摘要

From 1909 to 1940 the medical professor Johannes Lindhard, struggled to establish gymnastics as a subject at the University of Copenhagen and in doing so, he faced a complex situation. He had to make sure that he did not lose his scientific integrity; that the intellectual authority in gymnastic matters was transferred to the university in a way that did not undermine the political support that had made it possible to add gymnastics to the subjects taught there; and that gymnastics gained scientific authority within the university. In striving to meet these demands, he managed to write five textbooks and conduct internationally acclaimed research into exercise as well as muscular physiology. Due to his central position in the institutionalisation of gymnastics at the university, he was given the opportunity of forging the emerging national discipline in ways that fitted his vision of gymnastics in society. This story is studied as a case of disciplinary formation, and investigates the question of whether it supports the critical perspective of disciplines as instruments of illegitimate power or the conservative ‘providential’ claim that disciplinary science is as it ought to be.1  1. Fuller, ‘Interdisciplinarity’, 3. View all notes View full textDownload full textKeywordsscience, gymnastics, disciplinarityRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2011.604822