"Their aim of rendering the concepts more accessible to students and academics not already well-versed in the literature. And the structure of the chapters does contribute to this goal ... . the authors refer to an impressive number of feminist scholars and cover a broad expanse of literature. ... The book will be a good addition to discussions in the area." (Pam R. Sailors, idrottsforum.org, October 19, 2021)
"The survey of the literature is extensive and impressive. The Reference section ... is rewarding and stimulating. Each chapter sent my mind racing. There are clearly many other applications and possibilities for feminist new materialisms, including in archival research. ... It is worth noting that the book is also physically rewarding to hold and admire. ... Materially, theoretically, and empirically the book offers a rich resource and a rewarding read." (Jane E. Hunt, Leisure Studies, October 14, 2021)
1. A Lively Introduction: New Materialisms, Feminisms, Moving Bodies.- 2. New Materialist Methods and the Research Process.- 3. Sporting Matter and Living with Objects of Fitness.- 4. Digital Intimacies, Assemblages, and Fit Femininities.- 5. The Biocultural Possibilities of Sportswomen's Health.- 6. Apparatus and the Boundaries of Transdisciplinary Research.- 7. Feminist Ethics, the Environment, and Vital Respondings.
Holly Thorpe is a Professor in Te Huataki Waiora School of Health at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Julie Brice is a Doctoral Candidate in Te Huataki Waiora School of Health at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Marianne Clark is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
This bookoffers the first critical examination of the contributions of feminist new materialist thought to the study of sport, fitness, and physical culture.
Bringing feminist new materialist theory into a lively dialogue with sport studies, it highlights the possibilities and challenges of engaging with posthumanist and new materialist theories. With empirical examples and pedagogical offerings woven throughout, the book makes complex new materialist concepts and theories highly accessible. It vividly illustrates sporting matter as lively, vital, and agentic. Engaging specifically with the methodological, theoretical, ethical and political challenges of feminist new materialisms, it elaborates understandings of moving bodies and their entanglements with human, non-human, technological, biological, cultural, and environmental forces in contemporary society.
This book extends humanist, representationalist, and discursive approaches that have characterized the landscape of critical research on active bodies, and invites new imaginings and articulations for sport and moving bodies in uncertain times and unknown futures.