Embodiment, Identity and Disability Sport : An Ethnography of Elite Visually Impaired Athletes

"This book investigates the complex relationship between embodiment, identity and disability sport, based on ethnographic research with an international-level visually impaired cricket team. Alongside issues of empowerment, classification and valorisation, it conceptualises the sensuous dimension of being in disability sport and challenges the idealised notion of the sporting body. It explores the players' lived experiences of participating and competing in an elite disabled sport culture, and uses an embodied theoretical approach drawing upon sociology, phenomenology and contemporary disability theory to examine aspects of this previously unexamined research 'site', both on and off the pitch. Written in a way that values and accurately represents the participants' traditionally marginalised voices, the book analyses the role that elite disability sport plays in the construction of identity and helps us to better understand the relationships between disability, sport and wider society. Embodiment, Identity and Disability Sport is essential reading for any student, researcher, practitioner or policy-maker working in disability sport, and a source of useful new perspectives for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport or disability studies"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1. An introduction to visually impaired cricket: the opening delivery Cricket. But not as you know it The fieldwork Overview of the book Notes References 2. Disability, sport and social theory Why does theory matter? The body, impairment and disability theory What is embodiment? An embodied approach to disability sport Conclusion References 3. Visually impaired cricket and the senses Sport, physical activity and somatic work Conceptualising the sporting space The auditory structure A multi-sensory experience Conclusion Notes References 4. Disability sport and empowerment: from the playground to the Oval What is empowerment? From sighted to VI sport A big fish in a small pond: initial experiences of VI cricket Education and VI sport An embodied reconceptualisation of self Public exposure and media coverage Mainstreaming, professionalisation and empowerment Conclusion Notes References 5. Classification and the hierarchy of sight: valorisation of disabled sporting bodies Classification and disability sport To B (1–3) or not to be, that is the question Rumour, gossip and accusation The B1s and the Partials The hierarchy of sight Conclusion Note References 6. Identity formation through disability sport What is identity? The D word: disability and identity Visually impaired? Partially sighted? Blind?: sight loss and identity Passing and the fluidity of identity A shared team identity? Conclusion Notes References 7. Embodiment, identity and disability sport: the close of play An embodied approach to disability sport Beyond the boundary The future? References Index