Anatomy as Spectacle: Public Exhibitions of the Body from 1700 to the Present – By Elizabeth Stephens

Book Reviewsjrs3_1236 122..128

Anatomy as Spectacle: Public Exhibitions of the Bodyfrom 1700 to the Present

Elizabeth StephensLiverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2011, 165ppHardback £ 55.00ISBN 978 1 84631 644 9

In this edition we have asked two reviewers who bringdifferent theoretical or other positioning on a particularsubject, to critically review the same book. With a view toengendering critical dialogue amongst the JORSEN reader-ship, in this edition we have asked two reviewers to take acritical look at Yan Feng’s book from their own particularperspective or professional context.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of scholarshipin the humanities exploring medical constructions of thebody. We have witnessed a growing interest in the interdis-ciplinary field of medical humanities, with more and moreuniversity courses offering modules and courses in thisarea. Elizabeth Stephens’ compelling new book makes animportant contribution to scholarship in this field bydrawing our attention to the history of public exhibitions ofthe body – a history that is, as Stephens states, ‘now largelyforgotten’ (p. 5), This fascinating book traces the historyof anatomy exhibitions with a view to understanding their‘important role in shaping modern attitudes towards thebody’ (p. 5). The author’s central thesis is that, contrary topopular belief that ‘medical discourses gradually came tousurp and replace popular ones’ in the history of anatomyexhibitions, in fact the two types of discourse have contin-ued to be ‘mutually dependent’ (p. 143). Furthermore, thebook shows how medical and popular discourses interactin the construction of ‘new kinds of knowledge’ about thebody (p. 22). The author uses historical material not onlyas a means of understanding the past but also as a way of‘diagnosing the present’, adopting a Foucauldian approachto doing history (Kendall and Wickham, 1999, p. 4). Thismakes the book relevant not just to historians but also toresearchers in the field of cultural studies, like myself, whoseek to explore the ‘conditions of possibility’ for particularsocial constructions of the body (Kendall and Wickham,1999, p. 37). Moreover, this approach allows the book toproblematise aspects of contemporary Western ideologyabout the body, and in this way, to offer a timely and cogentcritique of practises of the body and of the self that arecurrently deemed ‘natural’. Being an interdisciplinarystudy, the book will appeal to researchers working in arange of disciplines, from medical humanities, the historyof medicine and disability studies, to cultural studies andmuseum studies. It is clearly tailored towards a readershipof academics and postgraduates in that it is a rich, scholarlytext, on a specialist subject that is in constant dialogue with

work from a variety of disciplines. However, the book isvery well written, making it accessible to undergraduatesand to a more general readership. To make the book evenmore accessible to a less specialised readership, a briefchapter-by-chapter outline of the book’s thesis would be ahelpful addition to the introduction, as would a brief state-ment on the author’s methodological approach to the cul-tural objects explored, as this is implied but not discussed.

The author focuses her attention on four case studies ratherthan producing a chronological survey of public exhibitionsof the body. This wise decision allows for a concept-drivenapproach to the material. The tight focus on well-chosenhistorical material is very productive in that it allows pat-terns and thematic parallels to emerge across the casestudies, while nevertheless respecting the historical and cul-tural specificities of each set of objects. The four distinctcase studies are deployed very successfully to show howpublic exhibitions of the body not only established anatomyas a reputable branch of medicine but also mobilised aparticular ‘idea of health’ that produced a new way ofseeing bodies as ‘the product of the work we have put intothem and the care we have taken of them’ (p. 13). Theargument is skilfully constructed, drawing both on Fou-cault’s (1991) notion of the modernity of the ‘docile’ body(p. 136) and on Bennett’s (1995) contention that in the 19thcentury, the museum began to function ‘as a space of emu-lation in which civilised forms of behaviour might be learntand thus diffused more widely through the social body’(p. 24).

The first chapter focuses on the waxwork ‘anatomicalVenuses’ of the 18th and 19th centuries. The history of thesewaxworks has rarely been discussed outside medical jour-nals, and so this chapter brings these figures to the attentionof scholars in the humanities. It is likely to be useful foranyone working on historical constructions of femininity ormaternity. The author constructs a subtle but convincingargument to support her thesis that the Venuses helped tocreate ‘subjects that were both passive and self-managing’(p. 49). Stephens posits that the changing aesthetics of theanatomical Venuses reveal how medical representations ofthe body are always mediated through popular thought. Themodels of the early 18th century were represented as beingchained down, dissected against their will, whereas the latermodels were passive, almost sexualised examples of femi-ninity, reflecting the extent to which anatomy and dissectionhad become reputable scientific practices by the early nine-teenth century.

The second chapter focuses on the notion of ‘lost manhood’and its subsequent translation in the mid-19th century intothe medical category ‘spermatorrhoea’ – a condition that,

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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs · Volume 12 · Number 2 · 2012 122–128doi: 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2012.01236.x

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Stephens notes, was ‘largely held to be a consequenceof men’s own behaviour’ (p. 73). Once again, Stephenschooses a subject that has gone under the radar of scholar-ship in the humanities to date but which is fascinating interms of what it shows about shifting attitudes towards themale body.

The third chapter shifts the focus to American exhibi-tory culture and the public spectacle of the ‘freak show’established by P. T. Barnum in the mid-19th century. Incontrast to the material under discussion in the first twochapters, the 19th-century freak show has been the subjectof a number of books in recent years. However, Stephensseeks to challenge the dominant reading of the freak showput forward in the secondary literature. Most secondaryliterature suggests that, in the 20th century, the medicalisedview of the different body as ‘disabled’ superseded spec-tacularised ways of seeing it as ‘freakish’, putting an ‘end tothe freak show as a form of popular entertainment’ (p. 90).Using evidence from interviews with contemporary freakshow performers, Stephens suggests that this interpretationis too simplistic. She proposes that a dynamic relationshipexists between the various discourses on the disabled body,‘performers in twenty-first century freak shows criticallyreflect on the tradition, they also continue interrogating thecultural assumptions about embodiment that continueto circulate in and through this space’ (p. 119). This pointechoes a statement made in relation to a recent UK exhibi-tion of historical and contemporary portraits of disabledpeople, Re-framing Disability: Portraits from the RoyalCollege of Physicians. In a scholarly essay for the exhibi-tion guide, Anderson (2001) writes that:

‘Many of the people in these images were trying tocontrol the way that they were represented, in theirclothing, their pose and their location. Similarly,disability activists today still strive for disabled peopleto control their own representations.’ (p. 33)

Anderson thus suggests that control over representationhas always been and, still is, a key issue for disabled per-formers. Where shows do allow performers to discuss andcontrol how they are represented, as appears to be the casefor the contemporary performers discussed in the chapter,there is potential for a dialogue between the differing dis-courses on disability. Such spaces of critical reflection seemto me to be increasingly under threat in a world dominatedby reality television shows that reproduce oppressive ide-ologies about the body (indeed, Stephens goes on to critiquea reality television programme in her conclusion). With thisin mind, it would be interesting to know who goes to seethese modern ‘freak shows’ and how widely their discoursesof critical engagement circulate.

The subject of the final chapter is Gunther von Hagens’controversial exhibition Body Worlds. Most academic dis-cussions of the exhibition have focused on questions ofethics; however, Stephens’ highly original and authoritativechapter attends to another important issue: the exhibitions’truth claims. Stephens contends that the exhibitions’ plas-

tinates reproduce a culturally specific notion of anatomyand cannot be seen as unmediated ‘real human bodies’ asvon Hagens claims (p. 126). Body Worlds depends on amodern conceptualisation of the body as ‘autonomous andhighly individuated’, which, Stephens argues, only emergedin the 17th century, replacing older notions of the body as‘open and unstable’ (p. 138). It is this modern understand-ing of the body as self-contained that has led us to privilegethe idea of looking into the body’s interior to find out itstruths.

The level of detail provided in each case study is excellent,and it is clear that the author has researched each chaptermeticulously and has carried out a thorough review of thesecondary literature. Each case study makes a valuable con-tribution to the overall thesis of the book and develops theauthor’s argument. The book’s conclusion is particularlywell-conceived in that, not only does it provide a lucidconsolidation of the book’s thesis, but it also discusses thenotion of the ‘body as self-made’ in relation to a case studyfrom contemporary popular culture – the reality televisionseries The Biggest Loser, which Stephens describes as a‘competitive weight-loss show’ (p. 145). This carefullychosen example demonstrates the dominance of the dis-course of personal responsibility for the body – a discoursethat, as Stephens has shown, has been made possiblethrough the cultural transformations enacted by earlierpubic exhibitions of the body. The Biggest Loser is just oneof a whole range of similar programmes that spectacularisenon-normative bodies, indicating that spectacular andmedical ways of seeing the body do indeed continue to existin dialogue with one another, as Stephens contends.

Overall, this book makes a very valuable contributionto scholarship on the cultural construction of the body.Particularly insightful is its discussion of the interactionbetween early exhibitory culture and the discipline ofanatomy in the production of new ways of seeing thebody. Equally important is the book’s use of historicalmaterial to contextualise and in this way to de-naturalisecertain contemporary ideologies, such as the ‘culturaldisapproval that accrues around failures to care for thebody in normative ways’ (p. 146). Anatomy as Spectacleis a well-written, compelling, and a politically engagedaccount of how scientific and spectacular discourses havetogether shaped ‘what we think a body is and what it cando’ (p. 149).

Harriet CooperDepartment of English and Humanities,

Birkbeck College,University of London.

Email: [email protected].

ReferencesAnderson, J. (2001) ‘Public bodies: disability on display.’

In B. Telfer, E. Shepley & C. Reeves (eds),Re-Framing Disability: Portraits from the RoyalCollege of Physicians, pp. 15–34. London: RoyalCollege of Physicians.

Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 12 122–128

123© 2012 The Authors. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs © 2012 NASEN

Bennett, T. (1995) The Birth of the Museum: History,Theory, Politics. London: Routledge.

Foucault, M. (1991) Discipline and Punish: The Birth ofthe Prison (trans. by Alan Sheridan). London:Penguin.

Kendall, G. & Wickham, G. (1999) Using Foucault’sMethods. London: Sage.

Critical Perspectives on Human Rights andDisability Law

Marcia Rioux, Lee Ann Basser & Melinda Jones (eds)Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011, 552ppHardback £ 160.00ISBN 9 004 18950 5

In recent years, there have been a number of new volumeson disability and human rights (e.g., Owen and Griffiths,2009; Shakespeare, 2009). This book is a valuable additionto that literature and explores the changing relationshipbetween disability and the law, with reference to the inter-section of human rights and domestic law. At the heart ofthe discussion is the United Nations Convention of theRights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) that came intoeffect on 3 May 2008.

The editors rightly assert that ‘the denial or achievement ofdisability rights is a public responsibility. It is time to thinkcritically about the extent of the barriers for people livingin societies that are inaccessible – barriers that are physical,environmental, organisational and attitudinal’ (p. 490). Oneof the strengths of Rioux, Basser and Jones’s ambitiousvolume is its incorporation of the experience of disabledpeople in a synthesis that is based on international literatureand research – and, a self-stated focus on ‘everyday situa-tions for people in which the law is implicated’ (p. 490). Itis also refreshing to have a single volume that addressesmajor themes in disability politics by juxtaposing accountsof developments in, for example, Africa (see Kindiki’s lucidchapter ‘Legal Protection of Persons with Disabilities inKenya’, pp. 308–40) with Latin America (see Reyes’chapter ‘Standard Rules on Equality of Opportunity forPersons with Disabilities: A Legal View of Provisions onSupport Services, Auxiliary Resources and Training/Viewfrom Latin America’, pp. 419–50).

The book’s organising themes include the human rightsprinciples of dignity, equality, inclusion and participation.Its stated aim is to consider the way in which human rightsprinciples can be applied in law and policy to achieve posi-tive outcomes for disabled people. The volume succeeds inmeeting this objective. In their chapter (‘Beyond LegalSmokescreens: Applying a Human Rights Analysis toSterilization Jurisprudence’, pp. 243–73), Rioux and Pattonassert that, through measures such as the CRPD, ‘creating arights-based understanding of individuals may provide themost equitable outcome by preserving the importance of theindividual within the historical framework of difference’(p. 271). The volume’s grounding in legal developments

and human rights instruments means that it could be overlytechnical and un-engaging. This is not the case. All of thecontributors manage to give accessible accounts. Equalityand human rights practitioners will welcome the detailedcitations of relevant legal cases and instruments. All readerswill value the case studies and international research used toillustrate general themes and debates.

Rioux and Riddle (see their chapter ‘Values in DisabilityPolicy and Law: Equality’, pp. 37–55) begin the volume byproviding a useful outline of the nexus between equalityand human rights, as well as the conceptual roots of equali-ties practice. Here, they shift away from Aristotelian idea ofequality of treatment to a necessary shift towards ‘equalityof outcome’ (as they put it, ‘equality requires distributivejustice’, p. 53). Arguably, the authors could have drawnupon mainstreaming theory to explore more fully howsuch principles might be applied in relation to, for example,state practices, welfare, policy-making – and service deliv-ery. Notwithstanding, they offer a powerful critique ofpre-existing practices and refer to contemporary attitudes inunequivocal terms:

‘the values and assumptions around disability are stillclearly grounded in presumptions about disability asan individual pathology – residing in the individualand not as a consequence of the political, social andeconomic conditions. A market-driven perception ofwhat is just and fair, and what is discriminatory, reinsthe creative potential to effect social change and toradicalize the concept of equality for people withdisabilities.’ (p. 55)

The contributors also highlight how the Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities represents a change ofemphasis from traditional ‘top-down’ public policy targetedat disabled people to an approach consonant with the socialmodel of disability and resonant of the literature on gover-nance and participative-democratic models of mainstream-ing equality (e.g., Chaney, 2011). Thus, Article 4(3) of theConvention states:

‘In the development and implementation of legislationand policies to implement the present Convention, andin other decision-making processes concerning issuesrelating to persons with disabilities, States Partiesshall closely consult with and actively involve personswith disabilities, including children with disabilities,through their representative organisations.’

This participative-democratic model underlines the needto incorporate a governance perspective in relation to theadministration of equality and disability rights (Chaney,2012). However, a key unanswered question in the book iswhether measures thus far associated with the CRPD arelikely to foster truly democratic equality and human rightsreforms for disabled people – or lead to the continuationof neo-corporatist, expert-bureaucratic approaches toaddressing disabled people’s needs.


124 © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs © 2012 NASEN

A further key theme in the CRPD is the need to recognisemultiple-discrimination, see, for example, Article 5(2)which states that . . . ‘Parties shall prohibit all discrimina-tion on the basis of disability and guarantee to personswith disabilities equal and effective legal protection againstdiscrimination on all grounds’. This presents significantchallenges and links to the literature on ‘intersectionality’(see Conaghan, 2009; Crenshaw, 2000). This is concernedwith promoting equality of opportunity in a sophisticatedmanner; one that takes account of the multiple, simulta-neous identities held by individuals. In this regard, thevolume could do more to engage with intersectional theoryand how human rights instruments can be applied in waysthat recognise disabled people’s multiple and simultaneousidentities and the equality and discriminations issues thatattach to these (e.g., arising from the intersection of disabi-lity and age, sexual orientation, and ethnicity). Mykitiukand Chadna’s chapter (’Sites of Exclusion: DisabledWomen’s Sexual Reproductive and Parenting Rights’, pp.157–201) partially addresses this issue. It surveys recentdevelopments as well as the international evidence – andunderlines the need for an intersectional approach to dis-ability rights. They conclude that, notwithstanding humanrights law that has endorsed women’s rights to sexual edu-cation, reproductive health services and the right to founda family: ‘this has not translated into protecting the rightsof women with disabilities . . . due to the tendency to viewwomen with disabilities as genderless and sexless, societyhas marginalised the social and economic issues that arecritical to promoting their parenting, sexual and repro-ductive rights’ (p. 197).

Later in the volume, Lord and Brown’s chapter presents akey discussion of the cross-fertilisation between equalitiesand human rights practice by exploring the developingimpact of the CRPD in relation to the notion of ‘reasonableaccommodation’. They describe the ‘adoption and entryinto force of the CRPD represent(ing) a watershed momentin the development and recognition of this critical concept’(p. 288) – and offer the optimistic assessment that: ‘thedetailed articulation of the right to education for children aswell as adults with disabilities in the CRPD, inclusive of theduty to accommodate, provides a highly contextualised,disability-specific understanding of this right. As such, itwould be surprising if (it) did not serve as a prominentguide for regional and international human rights proce-dures’ (p. 293).

An albeit limited number of criticisms could be levelled atthe book. Arguably, the conclusion does not do full justiceto the preceding discussion. It is overly brief and could domore to outline future research paths and theoretical dimen-sions – as well as present a clear summary of internationalbest practice. Another problem is its price – it is clearlyaimed at institutional purchasers. This is likely to deternon-government organisations, practitioners and indivi-duals from securing a copy – which is regrettable. Thechapters contain a wealth of knowledge that deserves to bedisseminated widely.

Overall, this is a solid and useful volume reflecting a keydevelopment in human rights law on disability. Ultimately,the impact of the CRPD will have much to do with therobustness of the monitoring and enforcement regimesapplied in relation to Article 35 (inter alia – ‘Reportsby States Parties – Each State Party shall submit to theCommittee, through the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations, a comprehensive report on measures taken to giveeffect to its obligations under the present Convention andon the progress made in that regard’) – and, Article 36 –(‘Consideration of reports – each report shall be consideredby the Committee, which shall make such suggestions andgeneral recommendations on the report as it may considerappropriate and shall forward these to the State Party con-cerned’). Accordingly, Waterstone’s chapter (‘Political Par-ticipation for People with Disabilities’ pp. 371–97) alludesto a potential implementation gap – an issue sadly familiarin the history of disability equality laws. Thus, he offers thecaveat ‘the enforcement of laws as written is not a strongsuit of international law where state-level compliance withhuman rights treaties is always a matter of concern’ (part IV,p. 394).

In concluding the volume, the editors point to the dangerthat the Convention may add to the ‘traditional failure totranslate rights’ and amount to little more than ‘hollowpromises’. Yet they also note that the CRPD’s greatestlegacy may well be as a ‘catalyst for change’. They state:‘the success of the CRPD, and of law generally, will bemeasured by the extent to which the underlying principlesare reflected in the development and administration of laws,policies and programmes, in the rulings of domestic courtsand tribunals, and the changes experienced at the grassroots’ (p. 487). Overall, Convention’s emphasis on disabledpeople as rights-bearers is a signal development. As anumber of contributors note, the next decade will be crucialin determining whether, what Rioux, Basser and Jones call‘a paradigm shift’, achieves widespread positive outcomesfor disabled people.

Paul ChaneyCardiff School of Social Sciences,

Cardiff University,CF10 3WT,

Wales.Email: [email protected].

ReferencesChaney, P. (2011) Equality and Public Policy. Cardiff:

University of Wales Press.Chaney, P. (2012) ‘The administration of equality and

human rights: recent developments and futureprospects.’ Public Policy and Administration, 27 (1),pp. 69–88.

Conaghan, J. (2009) ‘Intersectionality and the feministproject in law.’ In E. Grabham, D. Cooper, J.Krishnadas & D. Herman (eds), Intersectionality andBeyond: Law Power and the Politics of Location.London: Routledge.



Crenshaw, K. (2000) Gender-Related Aspects of RaceDiscrimination. New York: United Nations.

Owen, F. & Griffiths, D. (2009) Challenges to the HumanRights of People with Intellectual Disabilities.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Shakespeare, T. (2009) Disability Rights and Wrongs.London: Taylor and Francis.

Teacher Career Motivation and Professional Develop-ment in Special and Inclusive Education in China

Yan FengRotterdam/Boston/Taipei: Sense Publishers, 2010, 169ppPaperback £ 25.00ISBN 978 94 6091 273 3

This book focuses on the connection among teachers’ careermotivation, their experience of professional developmentand the provision of special and inclusive education inChina. In seeking to show how these three are linked, itpromises a way out of the rather crowded cul-de-sac ofresearch that focuses only on teacher attitudes to inclusiveeducation. It is based on Yan Feng’s doctoral research in thecity of Shaoxing in southern China. It is remarkable whatChina has achieved in the few decades since the educationalhiatus of the cultural revolution, and there are doubtlesslessons here for other countries with rapidly expandingeducational systems. In a context of relatively little histori-cal development of special education, China has developedan inclusive educational policy, generally for students withless severe impairments, known as ‘learning in a regularclassroom’ (p. 13). Feng argues that this is largely forreasons of economic pragmatism as the country movestowards education for all, rather than because there is broadrecognition of any intrinsic merit related to inclusive edu-cation. As an urban area in a more developed region ofChina, Shaoxing also has special schools, and so this bookreports the findings of Feng’s study of teachers in bothspecial and mainstream schools.

The structure of the book follows the traditional format of adoctoral thesis, and as such, some chapters are likely tohave wider appeal than others. It starts with a rationalefor the study, which is largely justified by the paucity ofresearch in this area, but also includes some reference toFeng’s career as an educationist in China. She has a back-ground as a mainstream teacher educator and gives muchclearly organised information on the teacher educationcontext that is likely to be informative to those with a broadinterest in Chinese education. The next section is a reviewof the literature on teacher motivation, attitudes and profes-sional development, but this is largely drawn from the UKand the US, and there seems to be a missed opportunity tostrengthen the analysis by drawing more on literature fromother contexts. Many low- and middle-income countriesface similar challenges to China in developing inclusiveeducation. It would also have been useful to have givensome consideration to the types of knowledge and skillsneeded by teachers in special and inclusive education, andin particular, how similar these might or might not be. The

answer to this question has considerable implications forinitial teacher education and continuing professional deve-lopment. The later discussion of the role of teacher educa-tion in preparing and motivating teachers for their workin special schools and in inclusive mainstream schools ishampered by this lack of detailed consideration.

The chapter that describes the methodological approachcontains a useful analysis of the challenges of applying aresearch ethics framework developed in a Western culture ina very different setting. It serves as a reminder that theprinciples of ethical practice matter more than the traditionsof their application in a particular context. While this is notnew, it is sometimes dealt with better by social anthropolo-gists than by education researchers. Feng’s account wouldtherefore be useful to others starting research in placeswhere concepts of confidentiality and teacher autonomydiffer substantially from Western norms. The focus onteacher voices is also a refreshing addition to the literaturein this field. The data presented later in the book show thatFeng managed to conduct interviews that allowed the teach-ers the ‘voice’ she was hoping to hear. In contrast, many ofthe results presented from the more structured questionnaireraise more questions than answers. This is, however, typicalof an under-researched area, and a mixed-methods study isperhaps justified on the grounds that it would be more likelyto be taken seriously locally than a purely qualitative study.

As is often the case, this book really ‘takes off’ inthe chapters that present and discuss the findings of theresearch. There are fascinating glimpses of teachers’ lives inpresent-day China, and the life history approach also showssomething of the influence of China’s recent politicalhistory on education. The interactions between teachers’identities, the status of their school, their sense of profes-sional self-efficacy, their opportunities for professionaldevelopment and their career motivations are explored indetail using quotations from the teacher interviews andother data. The study provides evidence that, even with themost unpromising of starts to a teaching career, attitudes towork are dynamic, and teachers can sometimes becomemore motivated with experience. Teachers who wereappointed to work in special schools as part of the practiceof replacing a retiring parent, some with no teaching quali-fication or desire to teach in general, and with no wish towork in a special school where the stigma of disabilityappears to encompass the staff as well as the students,describe how they became more positive about their teach-ing position with time. The lack of professional statuscontinued to affect them, however, in that they felt devaluedprofessionally and sometimes personally: ‘working in thisspecial school, if you are a young man, you may haveproblems finding a wife’ (p. 88).

Although Feng describes what she found to be uniquelyChinese, many aspects of the context apart from the tradi-tion of ‘replacing a retiring parent’ (apparently a practice ofthe former command economy) are common to other coun-tries, as we found in our Multi-Site Teacher Education



Research Project.1 Teacher education is frequently seen tobe the only option for further or higher education for thosewithout the grades or finances to enter other programmes,and teaching is also often viewed as a short-term careermove, in other words, a stepping stone to better things.Many countries have centralised teacher-posting systemsthat engender similar attempts to use ‘relations’ or otherstrategies to avoid the lowest status rural teaching positions.China’s ‘daike’ teachers have much in common with thelarge numbers of under and unqualified teachers that workin schools in many countries. Similarly, many contexts alsoface the possibilities and challenges of providing profes-sional development for teachers in a situation where teach-ers’ principal motivation for this is (often understandably)an academic upgrading for salary enhancement. What doesappear to be new in Feng’s work is how special schools inChina suffer severely from all these processes, with aposting in an urban special school being seen as almostequivalent to a remote rural posting. The force, with whichteachers feel that the status of their special school studentsand their curriculum is transferred to the staff, is perhaps acharacteristic of a traditionally collective culture. This isnot something that I have seen discussed in the literature,although there is often acknowledgement of hierarchiesof knowledge and the related hierarchies of schools; forexample, teaching in a secondary school in many countriesrequires higher qualifications and brings higher status andpay than primary school teaching.

Feng sometimes struggles with the role of internationalcomparisons in educational development. While drawingon literature from very different contexts, she neverthe-less writes about ‘the incomparable nature of educationsystems’ (p. 148). Sensitivity to educational, historical,political and economic contexts is undoubtedly important,but this does not preclude any comparison across contexts.Rather, an analysis that uses these factors can help deter-mine which contexts are likely to provide mutually valuablecomparisons to inform policy and practice. Broadfoot’s(1999) use of a Chinese proverb to argue in support ofcomparative education seems apposite here: ‘Stones fromother hills may serve to polish the jade of this one’.

Feng concludes her book with an insightful discussion ofthe challenges of addressing pupil diversity in a tradition-ally collective culture. She also discusses the inherenttensions for inclusive education that result from recentideological changes in China that give greater value toindividualism. While inclusive education exposes the faultlines in current constructions of education in many societ-ies, these are perhaps most prominently displayed in soci-eties where education is most explicitly competitive (Croft,2010). Feng sees her work as highlighting the tensionsbetween ‘the global and the local, between the Western andAsian philosophical assumptions of catering for studentswith SEN and between pursuing the ideology of inclusive

education and adopting pragmatic solutions in practice’ (p.143). She clearly describes the implications of her researchfor the development of special and inclusive education inChina. Given the descriptions in the data of school-basedteacher learning, more could probably have been made ofthe possibilities of building on the Chinese professionaldevelopment tradition of ‘learning study’.

In exploring the dynamic nature of teacher attitudes tospecial and inclusive education, and their interaction withother aspects of teachers’ lives and careers, this book help-fully takes us beyond the recognition of negative teacherattitudes as a barrier to inclusive education. Clough (2005)argued that ‘we have to find a way of understanding teach-ers’ resistance to inclusive practice without pathologizing,or even demonizing it’ (p. 80); Feng has contributed to ourunderstanding. The ‘jade’ in this book could in placeshave benefited from further polishing. Nevertheless, manyaspects of the Chinese educational context have parallels inother places, and therefore the book has broad relevance forthose interested in the motivation and professional develop-ment of teachers in support of the inclusion of all childrenin education.

Alison CroftCentre for International Education,

University of Sussex,Essex House,

Brighton,BN1 9RH.

Email: [email protected].

ReferencesBroadfoot, P. (1999) ‘Stones from other hills may serve to

polish the jade of this one: towards a neo-comparative“learnology” of education.’ Compare, 29 (3), pp.217–31.

Clough, P. (2005) ‘Exclusive tendencies: concepts,consciousness and curriculum in the project ofinclusion.’ In M. Nind, J. Rix, K. Sheehy & K.Simmons (eds), Curriculum and Pedagogy inInclusive Education: Values into Practice.London/New York: Routledge Falmer.

Croft, A. (2010) Including disabled children in learning:challenges in developing countries. CREATEPathways to Access Research Monograph 36.Brighton: University of Sussex. <http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA36.pdf>(accessed 26 June 2011).

Teacher Career Motivation and Professional Develop-ment in Special and Inclusive Education in China

Yan FengRotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2010,169ppISBN 978 94 6091 273 3

The global trend towards inclusive education has broughtabout great demands and challenges of paradigm shifts

1 The Multi-Site Teacher Education Research (MUSTER) Project explored teacher

education in Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago. http://

www.sussex.ac.uk/cie/projectscompleted/muster



to special education teachers for teaching students withspecial educational needs in either special or general edu-cation settings. In China, as in many other developing coun-tries, special education has just been recognised as one ofthe governmental and societal focuses recently, and notsurprisingly, professional development and well-being ofspecial education teachers have not drawn much attentionfrom policy-makers, administrators and researchers, andrelevant research is almost none. The book portrays a clearChinese profile of inclusive education development andillustrates the real professional lives of special educationteachers, and identifies key intrinsic personal and extrinsicsociocultural factors influencing teacher career motivationand professional development of teachers and studentteachers in China under the context of moving towardsinclusive education.

The book is structured on the logic of empirical studiesby the use of a few data collection and analysis strategiesrelated to questionnaire, interviews, case studies and narra-tive inquires. A social constructivist paradigm underpinsthe framework of this research and highlights the unique-ness of an interpretative perspective on career motivationand professional development of special and inclusiveteachers’ voices by the application of the self-determinationtheory approach. The book has provided a very detailedreview of international research and development ofinclusive education and related teacher education andprofessional development. More importantly, the researchhas been embedded into the specific Chinese social–cultural contexts and educational background, thus Chineseperspectives on inclusive education and relevant teacherprofessional development have been explored in contrastwith a broader international research context.

The book has revealed some key findings. For example, theauthor has found that teachers’ motivation for joining theprofession of special education is multidimensional. Extrin-sic contextual factors play a dominant role in motivatingteachers’ choice of special education, including political,historical, and socio-economic and cultural factors insteadof intrinsic, altruistic and interpersonal features indicatedby the majority of relevant research literature. In addition,

China still attach a low priority to special and inclusiveeducation, and the inconsistency from government policyinitiatives to the implementation of inclusive education atthe local level has led to teachers’ uncertainty and resistancetowards inclusive education and their motivation for sus-tainable professional development.

In conclusion, this book has strong implications for futureresearch and practice of Chinese development of inclusiveeducation. The research has made the voices of front lineteachers and student teachers’ voices of their life storiesand feelings heard, which has seldom done before in Chinadue to its tradition of social hierarchy that people at thetop dominate decision-makings. Also, the book providesa detailed description and deep understanding of what hasbeen happening in China in terms of special and inclusiveeducation, and more importantly, it informs internationalreaderships of a Chinese perspective on special educationteachers’ professional development under the impetus ofinclusive education. The experiences and lessons in Chinain this regard could enrich theories of inclusive educationand be referential to other nations in similar conditions.

Meng DengFaculty of Education,

Beijing Normal University,China.

Reviews EditorAddress for correspondence

Ron Smith,School of Education,Queen’s University,69/71 University Street,Belfast,BT7 1HL,Northern Ireland.Email: [email protected]://www.qub.ac.uk



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