Mission Statement

Nursing Clio is a collaborative blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day political, social, and cultural issues surrounding gender and medicine. Men’s and women’s bodies, their reproductive rights, and their healthcare are often at the center of political debate and have also become a large part of the social and cultural discussions in popular media. Whether the topic is abortion, birth control, sex, or the pregnant body, each and every one of these issues is embedded with historical dynamics of race, class, and gender. Our tagline – The Personal is Historical – is meant to convey that the medical debates that dominate today’s headlines are, in fact, ongoing dialogues that reach far back into our country’s past.

The mission of Nursing Clio is to provide a platform for historians, health care workers, community activists, students, and the public at large to engage in socio-political and cultural critiques of this ongoing and historical debate over the gendered body, and other issues outside of medicine that catch our attention (be it music, culture, TV, whatever). It is our contention that Nursing Clio will provide a coherent, intelligent, informative, and fun historical source for these issues.

Oh, and why name our blog Nursing Clio? Well, I am glad you asked.

In Greek mythology, Clio is the Muse of History. She is one of nine daughters born to Mnemosyne and Zeus.

So, Nursing Clio is meant as a double entendre - Nursing, as in the medical profession, and nursing in the way that mothers nurse their children.

We think it is pretty catchy.