Physical Culture, Power, and the Body

During the past decade, there has been an outpouring of books on 'the body' in society, but none has focused as specifically on physical culture - that is, cultural practices such as sport and dance within which the moving physical body is central.

Questions are raised about the character of the body, specifically the relation between the ‘natural’ body, the ‘constructed’ body and the ‘alien’ or ‘virtual’ body. The themes of the book are wide in scope, including:

• physical culture and the fascist body
• sport and the racialised body
• sport medicine, health and the culture of risk
• the female Muslim sporting body, power, and politics
• experiencing the disabled sporting body
• embodied exhibitions of striptease and sport
• the social logic of sparring
• sport, girls and the neoliberal body.

Physical Culture, Power, and the Body aims to break down disciplinary boundaries in its theoretical approaches and its readership. The author’s muli-disciplinary backgrounds, demonstrate the widespread topicality of physical culture and the body.

Jennifer Hargreaves is Visiting Professor of Sport and Gender Politics at Brighton University, UK. Patricia Vertinsky is Professor of Human Kinetics and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Canada.