Slouch: The Forgotten History Of America's Poor Posture Epidemic

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Linker SLOUCH Project Summary I am writing a cultural history of the forgotten poor posture epidemic in the United States. By taking seriously the existence of non-contagious disease outbreaks, this history has much to tell us about the changing nature and meaning of epidemics in the twentieth century. More specifically, my project demonstrates the ways in which, in a century of increasing ?germ panic,? more conventional notions of hygiene, social contagion, and bodily stigmata became reformulated within a biomedical framework and created the same sense of urgency as communicable diseases. In the end, I argue that the anti-slouching campaign normalized and paved the way for many more non-contagious epidemics (e.g. obesity, diabetes, depression) to take hold in the late twentieth century. Many excellent histories of past epidemics exist, but most tend to focus on communicable and deadly diseases. My project's greatest innovations are to consider the history of non-contagious epidemics and to broaden our understanding of twentieth-century therapeutics beyond pharmaceutics and ?high-tech? devices. Additionally, I bring the history of epidemics into conversation with critical disability studies, medical colonialism, commercialism, and domestic therapeutics. My project also demonstrates the importance of understanding the interrelatedness between epidemics, exposing the ways in which several outbreaks of the twentieth century were co-constructed. This book also complicates our notion of how epidemics end?namely, by demonstrating how, after World War II, the anti-slouching campaign became subsumed under the anti-obesity campaign. The health relatedness of this project rests in its contribution to understanding some of the most publicized epidemics today, including the Zika outbreak and the ways in which disability affects epidemic reporting and narrative. The project seeks in particular to aide in the development of new and important theoretical frameworks for understanding the complexities distinctive to non-contagious epidemics. The anticipated final products include a book, several journal articles, and presentations at conferences.