Reflexivity and bracketing in sociological phenomenological research: researching the competitive swimming lifeworld

In this article, following on from earlier debates in the journal regarding the ‘thorny issue’ of epochē and bracketing in sociological phenomenological research, we consider more generally the challenges of engaging in reflexivity and bracketing when undertaking ethnographic ‘insider’ research, or research in familiar settings. We ground our discussion and illustrate some of the key challenges by drawing on the experience of undertaking this research approach with a group of competitive swimmers, who were participating in a British university performance swimming programme at the time of the doctoral study. The primary researcher was highly familiar with the phenomenon of competitive swimming, having been both a competitive swimmer and swimming coach. Some of the key elements of a sociological phenomenological approach to studying physical-cultural embodiment are first delineated, before addressing the considerable challenges of engaging in sustained reflexivity and bracketing, using the swimming research for illustrative purposes. We suggest some practical ways in which researchers in sport and physical cultures might approach epochē and bracketing in ethnographic ‘insider’ research

‘Doing’ competitive swimming: Exploring the skilled practices of the competitive swimming lifeworld

Despite a developing literature on various facets of sporting embodiment, there is currently a research lacuna with regard to in-depth analyses of actually ‘doing’ sporting activities within specific physical cultures. In this article, we address that gap by drawing on a developing theoretical literature in sociological phenomenology to investigate a particular physical–cultural domain. Here, we present and analyse data from an ethnographic study of competitive swimmers undertaken in the UK. Responding to calls to explore the domain of ‘body pedagogics’, we investigate the embodied work involved in the skilled practice of ‘doing’ and learning how to ‘do’ competitive swimming. This embodied work plays a key part in the swimmers’ ability to inhabit the competitive swimming lifeworld. In the analysis, we highlight how the acquisition and ‘habituation’ of these body techniques and skilled behaviours are not achieved simply through the repetitive rehearsal of coherent movements over time. These processes are complex, demanding practical experimentation, discovery and the ability to adapt constantly to changes in the environment and the swimmer’s own corporeality

Gendered bodies under scrutiny: women’s embodied experiences of aquatic physical activity in the United Kingdom

Aquatic activity remains the second most popular form of exercise in the UK. Despite the delivery recent participation-based programmes, however, aquatic activity continues to be dominated by older women, and younger women participating with younger children. Moreover, the embodied experiences and lived meaning of participation in aquatic activity remain under-investigated. This paper presents results from five interview-based studies investigating women’s embodiment and aquatic activity. In total, 55 women were interviewed across the research programme. A number of key themes emerged, highlighting the centrality of the gendered, lived body as a key social construct contouring participant perceptions in the swimming pool environment. Feelings of anxiety and angst were reported in relation to women’s self-perceived physical deficiencies when wearing revealing swimming costumes, particularly under the critical gaze of ‘other’ bodies, whether present or imagined. Both younger and older women objectified and contrasted their bodies with those of other participants, often in a negative manner. As a consequence self-exclusion from ‘mainstream’ (i.e. mixed gender) aquatic activity was common. The shifting nature of intercorporeality emerged in the findings, with the presence of the ‘dependent’ bodies of infants shifting bodily intentionality away from the self towards others, particularly in view of perceived maternal responsibilities. Both participants’ bodies and the bodies of dependent others were perceived to be at risk of environmental and physical dangers in the swimming pool environment. Perceived risks were corporeally grounded in sensory elements of participation, relating to temperature and the threat of water and ‘dirt’ breaching bodily boundaries. Ongoing research into the implications of such sensory perceptions upon postnatal women and children’s participation in aquatic activity will also be outlined

An ethnographic study of career aspirations amongst students studying level 3 sports courses at a further education college in England

There is currently a dearth of research into how sports students’ career aspirations are formed during their post-compulsory education. This paper is based on an ethnographic study of sport students’ habitus and career aspirations. Two first-year cohorts on two different courses at a Further Education College in England were selected to participate in the in-depth study. The paper provides an analysis of the contrasting subcultures emergent within these groups, and how specific cultural practices affect students’ career aspirations vis-à-vis the current global recession and economic crisis. Utilising a Bourdieusian framework, the study is based upon formal and informal (auto)ethnographic observations and semi-structured group interviews, and aims to unearth the internalised, often latent cultural practices that impact upon these students’ diverse career aspirations in the field of further education in sport. The paper reveals how the two cohorts are situated within a complex field of relations; where struggles for legitimisation, kudos, academic accomplishment and numerous forms of lucrative capital are habituated. Despite the two courses being of equivalent academic level, the scholastic and career aspirations of the two groups appear to differ considerably. One cohort is eager to demonstrate aspirations of progression into Higher Education, whereas the other cohort appears content with achieving the lowest grades “required” to pursue full-time employment. The study will offer academics and practitioners valuable insights into both the career aspirations of these students, and also their attitudes towards their educational field and their contrasting work ethics

To be or not to be phenomenology? That is the question

Recent years have seen a burgeoning in phenomenological research on sport, physical cultures and exercise. As editors and reviewers, however, we frequently and consistently see social science articles that claim to be ‘phenomenological’ or to use phenomenology, but the reasons for such claims are not always evident. Indeed, on closer reading, many such claims can often turn out to be highly problematic. At this point, we should clarify that our ‘terrain de sport’ constitutes what has been termed ‘empirical phenomenology’ (Martínková & Parry, 2011) and more specifically from our own ‘home’ discipline, a phenomenologically inspired form of sociology. This latter tradition was developed in North America by Alfred Schütz (1972). By this, we do not mean philosophical phenomenology in all its rich and varied strands, the modern form of which was inspired by Edmund Husserl’s (1913/2002) descriptive and/or transcendental phenomenology. The term itself is derived from the Greek phainomenon, from the root phôs, meaning ‘light’, thus referring to something that is placed in the light, made apparent or shown. Phenomenology is therefore the study of phenomena, things as they present themselves to, and are perceived in consciousness. Importantly, it is not just another form of qualitative research; a point which we discuss later

Using an ethnographic approach to explore the influences on uptake and adherence in cardiac rehabilitation

Qualitative inquiry provides a powerful means to investigate which contextual mechanisms contribute to intervention uptake and adherence. Ethnography is efficacious in researching social interactions, behaviours and perceptions within groups, teams, organisations and communities, and can provide rich insights into individual/group views and actions. This ethnographic study will draw on longitudinal observations and two in-depth interviews conducted over a 6-month period with 10-20 participants. Working with two NHS Trusts, the researcher will collaborate with cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation staff to opportunistically recruit those who have opted to and opted not to attend core cardiac rehabilitation. Eligibility screening will take place as part of usual clinical care, with study criteria mirroring that of cardiac rehabilitation eligibility criteria. Snowball sampling will be used to recruit a maximum of two significant others (family and/or friends) as identified by patients. Thematic analysis sensitive to a Bourdieusian theoretical framework will be employed

McNarry, G, Allen-Collinson, J & Evans, A (2018) Walking the Deck: Methodological considerations and preliminary findings from a sociological-phenomenological study of embodied, sensory experiences in performance swimming, 2018 ISSA World Congress of Sociology of Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 5 – 8, 2018.

In recent years there has been a burgeoning interest in sporting embodiment, including a growing corpus of phenomenological inspired sociological analyses that draw influence from Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology. This combination of phenomenology and sociology provides a novel framework in the examination of sporting embodiment, and challenges many taken-for granted assumptions and presuppositions regarding the underexplored, under-theorised ‘mundane’ elements of sporting experience that often remain un/under-analysed. Swimming is a physical culture where embodied experiences have been shown to constitute core elements of participation. Studies that examine the embodied experiences of performance swimming, however, remain sparse, and are limited to critical sociological examinations of gendered relationships or training regimes that often overlook the intense embodied experiences of training and competing. Utilising ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviews with senior performance swimmers, this study seeks to develop a richer understanding of the performance swimming lifeworld and how a swimmer’s bodily sensations contribute fundamentally to the construction of this lifeworld. In this paper, we portray the project and its rationale, including aims and design, theoretical underpinnings, and challenges and experiences from the ‘field’. We also present some preliminary findings drawn from two stages of data collection, cohering around key themes including the normalisation of pain, fatigue, and discomfort in this particular physical culture, and the somatic learning in which swimmers engage to gain a ‘feel’ for different properties of the aquatic environment

Sensoriality, social interaction, and ‘doing sensing’ in physical-cultural ethnographies, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

As recently highlighted, despite a burgeoning field of sensory ethnography, the practices, production, and accountability of the senses in specific social interactional contexts remain sociologically under-explored. To contribute original insights to a literature on the sensuous body in physical–cultural contexts, here we adopt an ethnomethodologically sensitive perspective to focus on the accomplishment, social organization, and accountability of sensoriality in interaction. Exploring instances of the senses at work in social interaction, we utilize data from two ethnographic research projects to investigate the production of running-together and swimming-together by skilled, experienced practitioners. We focus on two interlinked sensory modalities: auditory attunement, and vision and intercorporeality, identified as key dimensions of sensory embodiment and “togethering” in these particular domains

‘Ladies present!’: an auto/ethnographic study of women amateur golfers at an English provincial golf club

Despite high general participation rates in golf in England and a raft of initiatives to encourage more women and younger players into golf, fewer than one in five amateur golfers in England is female and there is a real dearth of young women entering the sport. Sexist policies and practices have been posited as possible barriers to women’s and girls’ grass-roots participation in golf, but to date little qualitative research has been undertaken on the lived experiences of recreational women players themselves. To address this considerable gap, an 18-month ethnographic and autoethnographic research project was undertaken within a case study club in the English East Midlands. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with thirteen amateur women-players, ethnographic observations, detailed autoethnographic field notes and video auto-reflections, this article explores some of the key themes that emerged from the research, utilising primarily Foucauldian-feminist theoretical perspectives to frame the qualitative findings. The two key themes selected for analysis here are: 1) women’s lived experience of corporeal surveillance in golfing contexts; and: 2) discursive othering and objectification of women in golf. Keywords: women’s golf; ethnography; autoethnography; Foucault; surveillanc

Diving In: Exploring embodiment in the performance swimming lifeworld via becoming, remaining and doing.

In recent years sporting embodiment has attracted an increasing level of academic attention, including a burgeoning sociological corpus that draws influence from the existential phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This combination of phenomenology and sociology provides a novel framework from which to examine sporting embodiment, and challenges many taken-for granted assumptions and presuppositions regarding the often underexplored, undertheorized ‘mundane’ elements of our sporting experience. Swimming is one physical culture where embodied experiences have been shown to be core elements of recreational or leisure swimming. Studies that examine the embodied experiences of performance swimming, however, remain sparse, and tend to be limited to critical sociological examinations of gendered relationships or training regimes, which often overlook the intense embodied experiences of training and competing. Utilising ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviews with senior performance swimmers, this study sought to develop a richer and deeper understanding of the performance swimming lifeworld and how a swimmer’s embodied experiences contribute fundamentally to the construction of this lifeworld. In this paper, we portray some preliminary findings from the study, which cohere around two key themes. The first, ‘Becoming and Belonging’, focuses on the swimmers’ motivations for entering, and their embodied engagement with the aquatic lifeworld. The second, ‘Doing Performance Swimming’, presents the different ways in which the swimming body is central to ‘doing’ performance swimming