Journal article | Zeitschriftenartikel

On the ground and off

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.

On the ground and off

Urheber*in: Heiskanen, Benita

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

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

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

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

DOI
URN
urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-227001
Rights
GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
Last update
21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST

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Object type

  • Zeitschriftenartikel

Associated

  • Heiskanen, Benita

Time of origin

  • 2006

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