Although sport participation decreases on average for women once they become mothers, female athletes from the recreational, to the competitive, to the elite level have demonstrated that motherhood does not signal the end of sport engagement and athletic identities, or career and leadership roles. This is the first book to offer an in-depth examination of the nexus of women, sport and culture within the context of motherhood, uncovering new narratives that raise the profile of non-conformist performances.
The book brings together international researchers using innovative and rigorous qualitative methods to show how sport affords or constrains women’s agency to devise, negotiate and live alternative versions of motherhood in and through sport. Presenting stories of sporting mothers in contexts including martial arts, leisure swimming, recreational running, triathlon and climbing, the book explores the shifting meaning and practices of motherhood across social, cultural and media/digital landscapes.
Deliberately challenging taken-for-granted ways of thinking about motherhood and sport, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the socio-cultural study of sport, gender and sport, women’s studies, sport coaching, sport leadership, sport development, or qualitative and digital research methods.
Author(s): Lucy Spowart, Kerry R. McGannon
Series: Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Activity
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 226
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Figures
Tables
Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: Contextualizing motherhood and sport
Introduction
Positioning ourselves
The social construction of motherhood
Motherhood and sport research
Scope and organization
References
Part I: Critical approaches to data analysis
Chapter 2: Phenomenological insights on motherhood and aquatic embodiment
Introduction
Motherhood and swimming
Phenomenology and feminist phenomenology
The research
Research findings
Conclusions
References
Chapter 3: "Is training with your children a double-edged sword?": Motherhood and martial arts
Introduction
Method/methodological approach
Photo-elicitation
Empirical research
Participant selection
Data collection
Data analysis
Findings and discussion
Togetherness
Sense of achievement
Juggling act
Conclusions and future directions
Note
References
Chapter 4: Non-motherhood and motherhood in sport: Entangled relations of care
Introduction
A Baradian feminist new materialist approach to motherhood, non-motherhood, and entangled complexities
Motherhood, non-motherhood, care intra-actions, and entanglements in sport
Post-qualitative inquiry and diffracting relations of care in sport
Writing, thinking, reading, entangling, diffracting, and intra-acting motherhood and non-motherhood: A creative critical dialogue through Wendy and Adele
An intra-active critical dialogue
Good mother and non-mother in sport (privilege and criticism, exclusion and discomfort)
Relations of Care
Sacrifice
Discomfort
Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Uncovering stories of motherhood and coaching with story completion
Introduction
Method/methodological approach
Reflection on quality
Findings from the SC project
Tanya's story: Women CANNOT have it all
Tanya's story: With a little help from my friends
Jay's story: Men CAN have it all
Jay's story: With a little help from my friends wife
Conclusions
References
Chapter 6: Materializing risk in the pregnant athlete: Using material-semiotic tools to examine black-boxed and dis-qualified "facts" in the IOC evidence summaries
Introduction
Method/methodological approach
Empirical/research
Conclusions
Note
References
Part II: Mediation, technology, and digital methods
Chapter 7: Searching, surfing, and seeking Paralympian mothers in social media spaces
Introduction
Intersectionality theory and the Paralympian mother
If you can't see it ...
Paralympians and (social) media
Methodological approach
Accounts of (digital) fieldwork
Searching for Paralympic mothers
Surfing for the Paralympian as mother
Seeking for self-representations on social media
Conclusions and future directions
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Digital self-tracking and spacetimemattering: Beyond linear understandings of mothers' sporting bodies
Introduction
Navigating athletic motherhood within shifting social landscapes
Fit motherhood in the digital age
Feminist new materialisms: A vital approach
Thinking with agential realism
Methodology
Participants and contexts
Data collection and analysis
Empirical gleanings
Elena: Re-centering fitness and getting "back to the body"
Fit(bit) motherhood and spacetimemattering
Final thoughts
References
Chapter 9: Examining motherhood among elite athletes using social media: The potential of Big Data
Introduction
Sport sponsorship and women athletes
Nike and women athlete sponsorships
The rise of social media
Social media and athletes
Social media and women athletes
Social media and consumers
Social media as a source of Big Data
Data collection and analysis
Findings/results
General discussion
Conclusions
References
Part III: Creative analytical practices
Chapter 10: Pushing to the limits: A collaborative autoethnography of motherhood, disability, ambition, and risk
Introduction
CAE: What, why, and how
Introducing Sarah
Introducing Lucy
"Abandoning ship": Narratives of guilt and self-sacrifice
Commitment, ambition, and drive: The particular challenges of cerebral palsy
Race day: Motherhood "kicks in"
Conclusions
References
Chapter 11: Mothers at the wall: Using creative nonfiction techniques to explore climbing and motherhood
Introduction
Methods
Mothers at the wall
Liz: Monday. Time, less really is more
Becky: Monday. Last week before work!
Rachel: Monday. Head space
Thursday evening at the wall
Epilogue: Ethic of care, morality of time, and commitment to climbing
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 12: Getting back on the track: An ethnodrama of an elite mother runner's journey
Introduction
Ethnodrama: What, why, and how
Getting back on the track: Embodiment on the motherhood journey
Casting and backstory
Act I: Doing, adapting, and performing pregnancy
Scene 1: I'm pregnant. I'm still going to Tokyo
Scene 2: Listening to my (changing) body. Just go with it, it's worth it
Act II: Doing, adapting, and performing post-partum
Scene 1: Go low intensity, go slow, come back ... then step back
Scene 2: Lessons learned about my body. I'm still going to Tokyo
Conclusions
References
Ethnodrama References
Chapter 13: Navigating legacies of athlete abuse in motherhood: Creative analytical practices as a tool for uncovering post-sport embodiment and practices
Introduction
Research aim/questions
Methodological approach
Method
Analyzing Kate's experiences
Data - Introducing Kate
"Screaming" and "ignoring" as psychological abuse
Excessive running and riding as non-contact physical abuse
Enforced dieting as non-contact physical abuse and neglect
"Slim to win" reconfigured to "muscular for performance"
Resisting and contributing to (dis)ordered eating
Resisting psychological abuse and protecting
Conclusions
References
Part IV: Future directions
Chapter 14: Future directions for research into motherhood and sport
Re-envisioning motherhood and sport research
Critical approaches to data analysis
Mediation, technology, and digital methods
Creative analytical practices
Concluding reflections
References
Index
