1st Edition

Researching Disability Sport Theory, Method, Practice

Edited By Ben Powis, James Brighton, P. David Howe Copyright 2023

    Marking a new direction for disability sport scholarship, this book explores cutting-edge issues and engages creatively with contemporary approaches to research in this important emerging discipline.

    Featuring contributions from leading and up-and-coming scholars around the world, the book’s wide-ranging chapters offer novel perspectives on the relationship between theory, method, and empiricism in disability sport research and highlight how researchers can be both innovative and informed when entering the field. It also explores methodological considerations when conducting disability sport research, including social, cultural, and political reflections of the research process from disabled and non-disabled academics. This much-needed resource supports disability sport scholars in developing a conceptual grounding in the subject and establishes a space for intersectional accounts of sport and physical activity which challenge homogenous understandings of disability.

    This book is essential reading for any student or researcher working in disability sport, adapted physical activity, or adapted physical education, and a valuable reference for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport, disability studies, cultural studies, the body, or research methodology.

    1. Researching Disability Sport: An Introduction

    Ben Powis, James Brighton and P. David Howe

    Part I: Foundations for Disability Sport Scholarship

    2. Theorising Disability Sport

    James Brighton, P. David Howe and Ben Powis

    3. Cultural Politics, Disability Sport and Physical Activity Research

    P. David Howe

    4. What Are We Doing Here? Confessional Tales of Non-Disabled Researchers in Disability Sport

    Jess Macbeth and Ben Powis

    5. Barriers to Disability Sport Research and the Global South: A Personal View

    Leslie Swartz

    Part II: Disability, Sport and Intersectionality

    6. Disabled Female Sporting Bodies: Reflections on (In)Visibility of disAbility in Sport

    Karen P. DePauw

    7. Playing, Passing, and Pageantry: A Collaborative Autoethnography on Sport, Disability, Sexuality, and Belonging

    Stephanie Wheeler and Danielle Peers

    8. Race, Disability and Sport: The Experience of Black Deaf Individuals

    Thomas Irish, Katrina Mcdonald and Francesca Cavallerio

    9. Disability and Ageing: Dads, Sons, Sport and Impairment

    James Brighton

    Part III: From Theory to Practice: Contemporary Issues in Disability Sport

    10. Seeing without Sight: The Athlete/Guide Partnership in Disability Sport

    Andrea Bundon and Staci Mannella

    11. Confronting Ableism from within: Reflections on Anti-Ableism Research in Disability Sport

    Carla Filomena Silva

    12. Exercise, Rehabilitation and Posthuman Disability Studies: Four Responses

    Javier Monforte, Barbara E. Gibson, Brett Smith and Dan Goodley

    13. Para-Sport Activism in South Korea

    Inhyang Choi, Damian Haslett and Brett Smith

    14. Conclusion: The Future of Disability Sport Research

    P. David Howe, Ben Powis and James Brighton

    Biography

    Ben Powis is a Course Leader in the Faculty of Sport, Health and Social Sciences at Solent University, UK. His current research interests lie in the sociology of disability sport, the embodied experiences of visually impaired people in sport and physical activity, and investigating the significance of sensuous sporting experiences.

    James Brighton is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport and Exercise at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His theoretical and empirical research interests lie in disability studies, the sociology of the body and the social and cultural analyses of sport and fitness. Methodologically, he is interested in interpretive forms of qualitative inquiry including ethnography, life history, and narrative analyses.

    P. David Howe is a social anthropologist and holds the Dr. Frank J. Hayden Endowed Chair in Sport and Social Impact in the School of Kinesiology at Western University, Canada. His ethnographic research focuses on unpacking the embodied sociocultural milieu surrounding inclusive physical activity and disability sport. He is also editor of the Routledge book series Disability, Sport and Physical Activity Cultures.