On the ground and off

Journal article | Zeitschriftenartikel

In the United States, prizefighting carries deep-seated meanings as an ethnically and racially delineated, class-based and gendered practice. At present, the sport is characterized by its ongoing ‘latinization’ corresponding to Latinos’ integration endeavors in urban USA. This article examines boxing as a locus for identity formations. Based on four years of ethnographic fieldwork with a community of Latino prizefighters in Austin, TX between 2000 and 2004, the research draws on life-story interviews conducted with the boxers, while their experiences are situated within a theoretical framework of the body in space and place. The fieldwork brings the research ‘onto the ground’ to the actual sites-such as the boxing gym, the weigh-in and the competition venue-where the athletes conduct their occupation on a daily basis. As professional boxing determines these worker-athletes’ physical prowess, it also shapes their identities, day-to-day survival and their very mode of being in the world.

Object Details

• Extent: Seite(n): 481-496
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Postprint; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: European Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(4)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: identity formations; place; professional boxing; space; the body; US Latinos;

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Heiskanen, Benita
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (when): 2006

Further information

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549406069069
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-227001
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST