Narratives of despair and loss: pain, injury and masculinity in the sport of mixed martial arts

Spencer, Dale

doi:10.1080/2159676x.2011.653499

Cited by 62 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Abramson & Modzelewski, 2011;Bar-On Cohen, 2009;Hirose & Pih, 2010;Holthuysen, 2011;Rhodes, 2011;Spencer, 2012;Wacquant, 2004), revealing that the relationship between masculinity and martial artistry is constructed relative to the specific social and historical contexts within which the activity takes place. Such a social constructionist approach also informs this present study, as the distinction outlined above, between supposedly 'traditionalist' Eastern styles of martial arts and 'mainstream' sports (including 'Westernised' martial arts) is foregrounded in a discussion of the construction of masculinity among a largely middle-class sample of British male martial artists.…”

Section: Sport Martial Arts and The Construction Of Male Identitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking its cues from boxing and wrestling, MMA broadcasting typically showcases 'gladiatorial' matches, in which heavily muscled (and almost always male) prize-fighters struggle though what are often bloody contests (Wertheim, 2010). With competitive performance as its mainstay, MMA is situated within a cultural arena largely defined by highly masculinised imagery and discourse (Mayeda & Ching, 2008), and research into MMA training cultures suggests that masculinity is also an important aspect of practitioners' embodiment (Spencer, 2011), akin to other, similarly framed 'masculine' sports cultures. Further, there is a sense of MMA having challenged the status of 'traditionalist' Eastern arts in the West.…”

Section: Arts and Sports: Contested Meanings Of Martial Arts In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent emergence of MMA in the West (Sánchez García & Malcolm, 2010) has involved something of a paradigm shift in the cultural status of martial arts, by relocating them to the heavily masculinised terrain of combative, violent, predominantly male, professional sport (cf. Messner, 1990;Spencer, 2012). Taking its cues from boxing and wrestling, MMA broadcasting typically showcases 'gladiatorial' matches, in which heavily muscled (and almost always male) prize-fighters struggle though what are often bloody contests (Wertheim, 2010).…”

Section: Arts and Sports: Contested Meanings Of Martial Arts In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Channon

2012

Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science

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Section: Sport Martial Arts and The Construction Of Male Identitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Arts and Sports: Contested Meanings Of Martial Arts In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Arts and Sports: Contested Meanings Of Martial Arts In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Channon

2012

Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science

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“…Making sense of performance is, in many cases, also a narrative practice in which stories about efforts and the factors influencing performance are used to legitimise or make successes or failures plausible (cf. Tsang 2000;Rinehart 2005;Carless and Douglas 2008;Smith and Sparkes 2009;Spencer 2012).…”

Section: S E N S I N G C O N T E X T S : C O N F I G U R a T I O N Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensing Athletes: Sensory Dimensions of Recreational Endurance Sports

Groth

Krahn

2017

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

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Sport has become increasingly popular with recreational athletes over the last couple of decades. This has only gained minimal attention so far from scholars interested in the relations between recreational sports and everyday culture. With this paper, we seek to contribute to this field by scrutinising the sensory dimensions of recreational sport. Rather than probing into or highlighting isolated senses, we look at sensory dimensions understood as a combination of different, non-separable sensory experiences featured in recreational endurance sports. We are interested in how the senses play a role for recreational endurance athletes in running, triathlon and cycling both in training and competition. We start by examining how cultural and social dimensions are inextricably linked to doing sports. Secondly, we show how different configurations of the senses and their communicative mediation are contingent on sport disciplines, specific settings, technology, development and change as sensory careers over time. Thirdly, we discuss the kinaesthetic dimensions of doing sports in relation to the senses and the role of atmospheres. We conclude by arguing that highlighting specific senses by athletes is a cultural practice that calls for a holistic analysis of senses in sport, and outline some methodological implications for research on the senses. Going to the gym, attending yoga classes, jogging or cycling are part of everyday routines for many people, permeating everyday practices and shaping parts of everyday culture. Being a member of a fitness studio, a local sports club, participating in marathons or cycling races, as well as being physically active in general, has become an integral part of everyday routines and a broad spectrum of lifestyles. Advertisements on TV, lifestyle reports in magazines and self-presentations in social media feature the ideal of the active sportsman and -woman; health insurance institutions and health ministries foster these images as benefits claimed from an active lifestyle. Rather than having to justify oneself for doing sport, one has to justify oneself for not doing sport. Endurance sports take up a considerable share of such sporting activities and images of fitness and healthiness. The lunch run at work, the bike ride with a local club in the evenings, 5K races or city marathons, as well as sports holidays, such as cycling vacations or training camps (Strüver 2010) -endurance sports like these have become a frequent and important part of everyday culture, shaping leisure time as well as perceptions of the self (Krahn and Groth 2017). As European ethnologist Wolfgang Kaschuba (1989: 154) argued more than two decades ago, "sportivity" as a "social pattern of behavior and interpretation" has become "omnipresent" and "taken for granted". This image still holds: runners, cyclists and other recreational athletes in public spaces are perceived as normal, and mega events, such as city marathons, are a common part of urban event calendars (Berking and Neckel 1993;Müller 2015). Pra...

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“…Possessing a sporting talent and a scientific aptitude, Will became fixated on the so-called "internal martial arts" of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Chen Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Yiquan as applied through pushing hands (a partner training exercise now offered) and Chinese kickboxing (Sanshou). These internal arts emphasize relaxation, body awareness and the constant link between body and mind through slow movement training, rather than physical conditioning, aggression and the obvious violent potential of the modern, pragmatic approaches of MMA and Krav Maga [11,29]. After several years of arduous training, Will became a British Chinese martial arts champion and instructor of Chen style Taijiquan.…”

Section: The Western Scientific Health Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK

Jennings

2014

Societies

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Abstract:The dynamic relationships between "martial arts", society and health remain unclear, particularly due to research that typically views health in a purely biomedical and compartmentalized way. Martial arts and combat sports (MACS) offer a diversity of disciplines with their own intended training outcomes and techne. The traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMAs), such as Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) and Wing Chun Kung Fu, stress health promotion/preservation, personal development and lifelong practice. Adopting a structurationist framework, this article explores the connections between three distinct philosophies of health and TCMAs, institutions spreading such discourse, and the personal narratives of transformation and self-cultivation through these embodied art forms. Taking a perspective starting from the practitioners themselves, I explore the interplay between discourse and narrative as applied in everyday British society. Following detailed qualitative analysis, "Western scientific", "contemporary Daoist" and "New Age" health philosophies are identified as explored via three detailed, reflexive cases of long-term practitioner-instructors, their schools and documents that connect them to international exponents across time. This article thus contributes to sociological knowledge on MACS and health, while considering the connections between health philosophies, discourse and narrative.

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Narratives of despair and loss: pain, injury and masculinity in the sport of mixed martial arts

Cited by 62 publications

References 58 publications

Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Sensing Athletes: Sensory Dimensions of Recreational Endurance Sports

Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK

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