Biography
Matthew Drage is an artist, writer and PhD student. His work draws on a range of disciplines and practices within the arts, humanities, social sciences - especially history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and theology. He is particularly concerned with diagnosing the ways in which ideologies and ethical rubrics are materialised, legitimised and reproduced within biomedical institutions; in understanding the political potentials and dangers of "secularised" forms of religious praxis; and in tracing the movements and potencies of hegemonic masculinity. He is also interested in the history, philosophy and sociology of: psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy; cybernetics and systems theory; religious mysticism (especially Buddhist and Christian); gender and sexuality; and romanticism. His PhD thesis, "The Transmission of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction," focuses on the emergence of "mindfulness" meditation as a biomedical intervention in America and Britain since 1979.
