E-Book Overview
Do the Paralympic Games empower the disability sport community? Like many other contemporary sporting institutions, the Paralympic Games have made the transition from pastime to spectacle, and the profile of athletes with disabilities has been increased as a result. This book reviews the current status of the Paralympics and challenges the mainstream assumption that the Games are a vehicle for empowerment of the disabled community. Using ethnographic methods unique in this area of study, P. David Howe has undertaken an innovative and critical examination of the social, political and economic processes shaping the Paralympic Movement. In The Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Movement he presents his findings and offers a new insight into the relationship between sport, the body and the culture of disability. In doing so he has produced the most comprehensive and radical text about high performance sport for the disabled yet published. P. David Howe is Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Loughborough University. He is also a four-time Paralympian and former Athlete’s Representative to the International Paralympic Committee.
E-Book Content
The Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Movement Do the Paralympic Games empower the disability sport community? Like many other contemporary sporting institutions, the Paralympic Games have made the transition from pastime to spectacle, and the profile of athletes with disabilities has been increased as a result. This book reviews the current status of the Paralympics and challenges the mainstream assumption that the Games are a vehicle for empowerment of the disabled community. Using ethnographic methods unique in this area of study, P. David Howe has undertaken an innovative and critical examination of the social, political and economic processes shaping the Paralympic Movement. In The Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Movement he presents his findings and offers a new insight into the relationship between sport, the body and the culture of disability. In doing so he has produced the most comprehensive and radical text about highperformance sport for the disabled yet published. P. David Howe is Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Loughborough University. He is also a four-time Paralympian and former Athlete’s Representative to the International Paralympic Committee. Routledge Critical Studies in Sport Series Editors Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald University of Brighton The Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series aims to lead the way in developing the multi-disciplinary field of Sport Studies by producing books that are interrogative, interventionist and innovative. By providing theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded texts, the series will make sense of the changes and challenges facing sport globally. The series aspires to maintain the commitment and promise of the critical paradigm by contributing to a more inclusive and less exploitative culture of sport. Also available in this series: Understanding Lifestyle Sports Consumption, identity and difference Edited by Belinda Wheaton British Asians and Football Culture, identity, exclusion Daniel Burdsey Why Sports Morally Matter William J. Morgan Culture, Politics and Sport Blowing the Whistle, revisited Garry Whannel Fastest, Highest, Strongest A critique of high-performance sport Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie Sport, Sexualities and Queer/Theory Edited by Jayne Caudwell Physical Culture, Power, and the Body Edited by Jennifer Hargreaves and Patricia Vertinsky Olympic Media Inside the biggest show on television Andrew C. Billings The Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Movement Through an anthropological lens P. David Howe First published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously pub