Anthropology in Sporting Worlds - by Sean Heath & Benjamin Hildred & Henrike Neuhaus (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

To do anthropology in a sporting world, one must reckon with the digital. As digital technologies become more widespread and increasingly sophisticated, people develop new ways to use them when playing, watching, and learning sport. This volume adds to the growing literature in the Anthropology of Sport by framing key debates in the light of this digital context. More importantly, the authors articulate how apparently trivial contexts such as sport are crucial for exploring the ways human beings incorporate digital technologies in their everyday lives.

From taekwondo in Argentina to horse-riding in Morocco, the contributors to this volume explore a diverse range of sports across a variety of global locales. Through insightful ethnography, they show how fundamental elements of sport, including movement, competition, and values are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Whether it is Sri Lankan cricketers analysing their practice frame-by-frame, English youth swimmers curating their Instagram feeds, or women footballers navigating urban spaces safely in Brazil, such examples indicate the diverse relationships that exist between sport and the digital. Throughout, the authors reflect on issues around knowledge, collaboration, and representation and consider their implications for undertaking anthropological work. This reveals how the fundamental relationship between anthropologist and interlocutor continues to change in the digital age.

This book will be of interest to both students and scholars in anthropology and the social sciences, including sociology, sports sciences, cultural studies, geography, and history. The nuanced yet accessible discussion of method will be useful for students preparing to undertake ethnographic work, while the contribution to theoretical debates will aid researchers exploring sport and/or the digital. The international scope of this volume, combined with the broad scope of the arguments therein, ensure a wide appeal for many readers.

Review Quotes

This ethnographically and analytically intriguing volume explores how a new generation of anthropologists is working through and with some striking features of contemporary sporting worlds in the digital age. Contributors' accounts of a range of sporting practices pursued in varied settings provide a solid basis for engaging with essential questions, not only about the suddenly widespread use of digital technologies but also about the dynamics of knowledge, collaboration, and representation in this rapidly developing field of anthropological inquiry.

Dr. Noel Dyck

Professor Emeritus / Social Anthropology

Simon Fraser University

An exciting group of new voices exploring pressing questions about how digital technologies are changing both sporting worlds and anthropology itself. The empirically rich chapters tack deftly between methodological concerns about doing ethnography in a digitally-mediated world and wide-ranging conceptual questions that exceed a mere focus on 'sport' alone. This fascinating collection is an invaluable resource for students and ethnographers working in sporting contexts - whether 'sport' is their core focus or not - and an excellent addition to the burgeoning field of sport anthropology.

Dr. Leo Hopkinson

Durham University