Ethnographies in Sport and Exercise Research
Ethnography has become an important method for researching and interpreting the social world, not least in the field of sport and exercise studies. Ethnographies in Sport and Exercise Research is the first book to provide a contemporary overview of the current state of ethnographic research and its application within sport and exercise, introducing and explaining a range of well-established and emerging ethnographic approaches.
Featuring a heavyweight line-up of sport and exercise researchers, the book is divided into three parts. After an introduction to the book and to the history of ethnography in sport and exercise research, the first considers:
the definition of the ethnographic field
methods of gathering ethnographic data
methods of representing ethnographic research.
In the second part of the book, a series of chapter-length case studies, spanning sports from boxing to fell running and themes from gender to fandom, demonstrates the challenges and rewards of ethnographic research in the context of sport and exercise, helping students and researchers to develop a solid understanding of qualitative research at both a theoretical and a practical level. The final part of the book considers future directions for ethnographic research, including an evaluation of its place in the expanding field of study in sport management.
A comprehensive assessment of the state of ethnographic research in sport, Ethnographies in Sport and Exercise Research is invaluable reading for any research methods course taken as part of a degree programme in sport and exercise, and a useful reference for all active researchers.
Gyozo Molnar is Senior Lecturer in Sport Studies in the Institute of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Worcester, UK. His current publications and research revolve around migration, globalisation, national identity, the Olympics and sport-related role exit. His most current research, with Dr Yoko Kanemasu, has focused on the migratory aspects of Fiji rugby. He is co-editor (with Prof. Alan Bairner) of The Politics of the Olympics (2010, Routledge) and co-writer (with Dr John Kelly) of Sport, Exercise and Social Theory: An introduction (2012, Routledge).
Laura G. Purdy is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity at Edge Hill University, UK. Her research interests lie in delving deeper into high performance/elite sporting cultures, focusing on the everyday realities of coaches and athletes/players. In doing so, she has utilised ethnographic methodologies and methods to explore the lived experiences of coaches and athletes/players in relation to the concepts of identity, power and interaction. In addition to disseminating her work via Sport, Education and Society and the Sociology of Sport Journal, she has contributed to rugby and basketball coaches CPD in a number of international settings.
Ethnographies in Sport and Exercise Research
Edited by Gyozo Molnar and Laura G. Purdy
First published 2016
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2016 Gyozo Molnar and Laura G. Purdy
The right of Gyozo Molnar and Laura G. Purdy to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ethnographies in sport and exercise research / edited by Gyozo Molnar and Laura Purdy.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Sports Anthropological aspects. 2. Sports Research. 3. Sports Anthropological aspects Case studies. 4. Sports Research Case studies. I. Molnar, Gyozo. II. Purdy, Laura.
GV706.2.E75 2015
306.483dc23
2015004367
ISBN: 978-1-138-01528-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-79445-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
Contents
GYOZO MOLNAR AND LAURA G. PURDY
CARRIE DUNN AND JOHN HUGHSON
PIRKKO MARKULA
ANDREW C. SPARKES
BRETT SMITH, KERRY R. MCGANNON AND TONI L. WILLIAMS
MERIDITH GRIFFIN AND CASSANDRA PHOENIX
fell runner: an ethnographic foray
MICHAEL ATKINSON
ALEX STEWART
LAURA G. PURDY
ADAM BENKWITZ
CHRISTIAN EDWARDS AND ROBYN L. JONES
TIM BUTCHER, CHRIS HALLINAN AND BARRY JUDD
ALAN BAIRNER
JOHN HARRIS
Michael Atkinson is Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology Physical Education at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he teaches physical cultural studies, policy, bioethics and research methods. His central areas of teaching and research interests pertain to the experiences of human suffering in/as physical cultures, the cross-national study of biopedagogical practices, radical embodiment, issues in bioethics within global and local physical cultures, and ethnographic research methods. Michaels ethnographic research efforts have included the study of ticket scalpers, tattoo enthusiasts, fell runners, cosmetic surgery patients, greyhound and fox-hunting cultures, Ashtanga yoga practitioners, Straightedge and Parkour youth cultures, and triathletes. He is author/co-author of eight books including Deconstructing Men and Masculinities, Battleground: Sports, and Key Concepts in Sport and Exercise Research Methods, and is Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal.
Alan Bairner is Professor of Sport and Social Theory at Loughborough Universitys School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, UK. He studied Politics at the University of Edinburgh, UK, gained a PGCE from Moray House College of Education, UK, and was awarded his PhD at the University of Hull, UK, for a thesis on the social and political theory of Antonio Gramsci. Prior to his arrival in Loughborough in 2003, he was Professor in Sport Studies at the University of Ulster, UK, where he had worked for 25 years. He is the author of Sport, Nationalism, and Globalization: Europe and North American perspectives (2001) and co-author (with John Sugden) of Sport, Sectarianism and Society in a Divided Ireland (1993). He edited Sport and the Irish: Histories, Identities, Issues (2005) and is joint editor of Sport in Divided Societies (1999), The Bountiful Game? Football Identities and Finances (2005) and The Politics of the Olympics: A survey
