‘Getting it into the body’: understanding skill acquisition through Merleau-Ponty and the embodied practice of dance

Purser, Aimie

doi:10.1080/2159676x.2017.1377756

Cited by 31 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…including Merleau-Ponty (2002), whose existential phenomenology has been shown to be of particular relevance in illuminating experiences of various sporting and physical cultures (McNarry et al, 2019;Allen-Collinson et al, 2018;Clegg & Butryn, 2012;Purser, 2018). For Merleau-Ponty (2002), the corporeal dimension of the body-subject plays a much greater role in our being-in-the-world than is emphasized in Husserl's work, as the former focuses upon the lived body (Leib), portraying the intertwining of mind-body-world.…”

Section: Sociological Phenomenologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“You Always Wanna Be Sore, Because Then You Are Seeing Results”: Exploring Positive Pain in Competitive Swimming

McNarry

Allen‐Collinson

Evans

2020

Sociology of Sport Journal

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Pain has long been associated with sports participation, being analyzed variously as a physical phenomenon, as well as a sociocultural construct in sport sociological literature. In this article, the authors employ a sociological–phenomenological approach to generate novel insights into the underresearched domain of “lived” pain in competitive swimming. Analytic attention is paid to specific aspects of pain, including “discomfort” and “good pain,” and how these sensations can be positively experienced and understood by the swimmers, as well as forming an integral part of the everyday routines of competitive swimming. Here, training is seen as “work” in the pursuit of athletic improvement. Discomfort and good pain thus become perceived as by-products of training, providing swimmers with important embodied information on pace, energy levels, and other bodily indicators of performance.

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Section: Sociological Phenomenologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“You Always Wanna Be Sore, Because Then You Are Seeing Results”: Exploring Positive Pain in Competitive Swimming

McNarry

Allen‐Collinson

Evans

2020

Sociology of Sport Journal

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“…In this section, we present some theoretical concepts from Merleau-Ponty's ([1945] 2005) phenomenology of the body that may be fruitful in understanding directed surveillance as a bodily practice. As argued by Purser (2018), introducing the principles of Merleau-Ponty within a discussion of an empirical field, such as directed surveillance, allows philosophy and practice to be combined without prioritising one over the other. This allows for a more thorough understanding of directed surveillance as a bodily practice.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, this article may be considered to have empirical phenomenology. Phenomenology is primarily a philosophical exercise and not an empirical discipline (Martínková and Parry 2011;Purser 2018). However, phenomenological analysis of particular aspects of human experience may still benefit from engagement with empirical data (Purser 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hiding in Plain Sight: Directed Surveillance as a Bodily Practice

Dahl

Svanæs

2020

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In this article, we empirically explore directed surveillance as bodily practice—material bodies observing other material bodies. Such low-tech police surveillance practice (Haggerty 2012) relies on a police officer’s body as a tool and medium for information gathering. The theoretical framework used in this article is inspired by Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception and the body (Merleau-Ponty [1945] 2005). The empirical starting point for our analysis is in-depth interviews with police officers conducting directed surveillance of mobile organised crime groups, supplemented by some observations. Findings illustrate how police officers conducting directed surveillance have internalised advanced perceptual and bodily skills that enable them to keep an optimal distance from the subject of their surveillance, suppress bodily responses, stay in character to protect their cover story, and appear relaxed when they are, in fact, vigilant. With this article we aim to contribute to increased knowledge and more precise discussions concerning the tacit and corporeal aspects of directed surveillance.

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“…These processes involved initial detailed discussions between the authors during early planning stages of the project, in order to challenge prior assumptions and understandings of the swimming lifeworld. G then conducted a series of self-elicited reflections including a 'return to the water' that allowed him to reconnect with his 'former gloried' swimming self, bringing to the fore assumptions regarding sensations experienced by the swimming 'habitbody' (Merleau-Ponty, 2001; see also, Purser, 2018). With this knowledge at hand, G then employed various swimming and non-swimming texts further to stimulate and then record self-reflections about his own swimming and coaching careers, including the four swimming strokes and their technical points, as well as experience of periodisation and planning.…”

Section: Summary -And Towards a Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflexivity and bracketing in sociological phenomenological research: researching the competitive swimming lifeworld

McNarry

Allen‐Collinson

Evans

2018

Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health

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In this article, following on from earlier debates in the journal regarding the 'thorny issue' of epochē and bracketing in sociological phenomenological research, we consider more generally the challenges of engaging in reflexivity and bracketing when undertaking ethnographic 'insider' research, or research in familiar settings. We ground our discussion and illustrate some of the key challenges by drawing on the experience of undertaking this research approach with a group of competitive swimmers, who were participating in a British university performance swimming programme at the time of the doctoral study. The primary researcher was highly familiar with the phenomenon of competitive swimming, having been both a competitive swimmer and swimming coach. Some of the key elements of a sociological phenomenological approach to studying physical-cultural embodiment are first delineated, before addressing the considerable challenges of engaging in sustained reflexivity and bracketing, using the swimming research for illustrative purposes. We suggest some practical ways in which researchers in sport and physical cultures might approach epochē and bracketing in ethnographic 'insider' research.

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‘Getting it into the body’: understanding skill acquisition through Merleau-Ponty and the embodied practice of dance

Cited by 31 publications

References 44 publications

“You Always Wanna Be Sore, Because Then You Are Seeing Results”: Exploring Positive Pain in Competitive Swimming

“You Always Wanna Be Sore, Because Then You Are Seeing Results”: Exploring Positive Pain in Competitive Swimming

Hiding in Plain Sight: Directed Surveillance as a Bodily Practice

Reflexivity and bracketing in sociological phenomenological research: researching the competitive swimming lifeworld

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