The woman in the distance-running body - feminist phenomenology

What is it about?

Modern phenomenology has been taken up and utilised in many different ways within different disciplines, but until recently has remained relatively under-used within sports studies. A body of work that combines sociology and phenomenology is now beginning to develop in this domain, alongside a longer-standing literature in feminist phenomenology. After providing a brief overview of key strands of phenomenology, this article considers some of the ways in which sociological, and particularly feminist, phenomenology might be used to analyse female sporting embodiment. For illustrative purposes, data from an autophenomenographic project on female distance running are also included, in order briefly to demonstrate the application of phenomenology within sociology, as both theoretical framework and methodological approach.

Featured Image

Photo by Nathalie Désirée Mottet on Unsplash

Photo by Nathalie Désirée Mottet on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Although phenomenology has been taken up and utilised in many different ways within different disciplines, it has until recently been little used within sports studies and the sociology of sport. This article considers the use of feminist phenomenology specifically, and the insights it can generate into women's sporting embodiment.