‘I am proud of my back’: an ethnographic study of the motivations and meanings of body modification as identity work among athletes with spinal cord injury

Journal article

Sparkes, A., Brighton, James and Inckle, Kay 2020. ‘I am proud of my back’: an ethnographic study of the motivations and meanings of body modification as identity work among athletes with spinal cord injury. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. 13 (3), pp. 407-425. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2020.1756393

Publication dates
Authors	Sparkes, A., Brighton, James and Inckle, Kay
Abstract	Little is known about why disabled athletes choose to modify their bodies and the meanings that these modifications have for them. Drawing on data from a larger 4-year ethnographic study, we focus on the motivations and meanings of five athletes who had become disabled due to spinal cord injury (SCI) for tattooing their bodies in specific ways. Our analysis illuminates the following key themes as being significant in the body modification choices of those involved: re-inscribing identity, subverting the ableist stare and embodying disability pride, articulating gendered sexuality, and enabling the process of narrative mapping between pre- and post-spinal cord injury periods. In considering these themes we reveal some important contrasts between ablebodied and disabled forms of engagement with body modification practices.
Keywords	Spinal cord injured athletes; Tatoos as body modification; Re-inscribing identity and subverting the ablesist stare; Embodying pride and articulating gendered sexuality; Narrative mapping
Year	2020
Journal	Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
Journal citation	13 (3), pp. 407-425
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
ISSN	2159-676X
	2159-6778
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2020.1756393
Official URL	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2159676X.2020.1756393
Online	14 May 2020
Print	04 May 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted	13 Apr 2020
Deposited	02 Nov 2022
Output status	Published

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