0000000000054470
AUTHOR
Brett Smith
‘It’s not a part of me, but it is what it is’: the struggle of becoming en-wheeled after spinal cord injury
Many people who experience spinal cord injury become long-term wheelchair users. This article addresses the process of becoming en-wheeled through the case example of a disabled man called Patrick.An intrinsic case study informed by posthumanist developments was used. Within this design, Patrick and his manual wheelchair were the entangled participants of the inquiry.Interviews and fieldwork observation with Patrick were conducted. Qualitative data were analysed using the posthumanist notion of 'assemblages'.The results illuminate Patrick's struggle of negotiating a new embodied selfhood that includes the wheelchair. Patrick engaged in ableist rehabilitation after spinal cord injury to recu…
A INVESTIGAÇÃO NARRATIVA EM EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA E ESPORTE: QUE É E QUAL A SUA UTILIDADE
Narrative inquiry is a burgeoning form of research in social sciences that has received little attention in physical education and sport sciences. In this article, we seek to balance this situation by offering an understanding of what narrative inquiry can be and can offer to our field. In order to gain some theoretical purchase on a difficult field, we first define narrative. Next, a distillation of guiding assumptions and characteristics are offered. Finally, some reasons as to why narratives may be of benefit for the field of physical education and sport. In conclusion, we consider narrative inquiry as a useful, although problematic, way of theorizing and doing research in the domains of…
Introducing postqualitative inquiry in sport and exercise psychology
In recent years, qualitative research has gained popularity and legitimacy in sport and exercise psychology. However, this scientific discipline has not yet paid attention to postqualitative inquiry (PQI), despite the possibilities it offers for producing different knowledge and producing knowledge differently. The present article is the first attempt to rectify this lack of attention by offering a brief and partial sketch of PQI in the context of sport and exercise psychology. To start with, three of the basic propositions that enable PQI are described. These are: adopt a posthumanist view of ontology and the subject; engage with poststructuralism (necessarily) and new materialism (possibl…
Social comparison processes, narrative mapping and their shaping of the cancer experience: a case study of an elite athlete.
Drawing on data generated by life history interviews and fieldwork observations we illuminate the ways in which a young elite athlete named David (a pseudonym) gave meaning to his experiences of cancer that eventually led to his death. Central to this process were the ways in which David utilized both social comparisons and a narrative map provided by the published autobiography of Lance Armstrong (2000). Our analysis reveals the selective manner in which social comparison processes operated around the following key dimensions: mental attitude to treatment; the sporting body; the ageing body; and physical appearance. The manner in which different comparison targets were chosen, the ways in…
Traveling material↔semiotic environments of disability, rehabilitation, and physical activity.
In this article, we apply narrative dialogism and new materialism to health research. We examine how material↔semiotic environments (MSEs) affect the rehabilitation process of Patrick, a man who exercised with the aim to recover from spinal cord injury. The MSEs are considered embedded subcases within the overall holistic case of Patrick. Three MSEs were identified: the hospital gym, the personal gym, and the adapted gym. These are examined using the analytical lens of assemblages. First, the mutually affecting components of each MSE are described. Second, a larger environmental assemblage is identified, which is termed exercise-is-restitution assemblage. This composite assemblage illumina…