Disability [sport] and discourse: Stories within the Paralympic legacy

A J Bush, M L Silk, J Porter, P D Howe

Research output: Contribution to journalSpecial issuepeer-review

40 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This paper aims to encourage critical reflection on what are key and pressing social and political issues surrounding the Paralympics Games. The focus of the paper is personnel narratives of six current elite Paralympic athletes who have participated in at least one Paralympic Games. In response to critical stimuli presented in the form of five “unfinished stories”, the self-reflexive, personal, compelling narrative reflections of these individuals were (re)presented for each of the stories as a composite narrative. The stories expose questions over fear, despair, freedom, hope, love, oppression, hatred, hurt, terror, (in)equality, peace, performance and impairment. To really learn from London and reflect for Rio, we need academic work that can understand sport, sporting bodies and physical activity as important ‘sites’ through which social forces, discourses, institutions and processes congregate, congeal and are contested in a manner that contributes to the shaping of human relations, subjectivities, and experiences in particular, contextually contingent ways.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)632-647
Number of pages16
JournalReflective Practice
Volume14
Issue number5
Early online date7 Oct 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013

Keywords

  • reflective practice
  • Paralympics
  • unfinished story
  • physical cultural studies
  • cultural politics

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