Surfing Life is a study of surfing and social change that also provides insights into other experience-based contemporary subcultures and the nature of the self and social formations in contemporary society. Making use of extensive empirical material to support innovative theoretical approaches to social change, this book offers an analysis of the relationship between embodied experience, culture and the economy. With its ground breaking theoretical contributions, and its foundation in an ethnographic study of surfing culture in locations across Australia, this volume will appeal not only to those interested in the social and cultural phenomenon of surfing, but also to anyone interested in the sociology of sport and leisure, the sociology of culture and consumption, risk-taking, subcultures and theories of contemporary social change.
With 1,500 alphabetical entries and 300 illustrations, this resource is a comprehensive review of the people, places, events, equipment, vernacular, and lively history of this fascinating sport.
Australians are surrounded by beaches. But this enclosure is more than a geographical fact for the inhabitants of an island continent; the beach is an integral part of the cultural envelope. This work analyzes the history of the beach as an integral aspect of Australian culture.
The Joy of Living is a story that touches the soul and gives us heart-warming, fascinating and deep insights on the hard road from diagnosis to treatment and eventual survival from throat cancer. Barry Eaton, author and radio presenter, describes the careful preparations he made for his journey, using his experience and understanding of the spirit world to deal with and survive the ordeal. Balancing holistic and spiritual methods with modern medicine, he found the means of coping as well as developing a deeper understanding of his life’s purpose. Barry tells his story in his own inimitable style as a broadcaster, sprinkled with amusing anecdotes and recollections. Dealing with customary fears surrounding cancer, Barry’s story unfolds with insights from his partner Anne and son Matthew, as they support him through his emotional roller-coaster journey.
Drawing on popular surf culture, academic literature and the analytical tools of social theory, this is the first sustained commentary on the contemporary social and cultural meaning of surfing, exploring mind and body, emotions, and aesthetics.
Visiting the Australian outback can be a wonderful experience, but it isn't all about boomerangs and koalas, kangaroos and didgeridoos. It can be a wild and dangerous place if you're not prepared. Here is the essential travel companion for enduring the toughest stuff this rugged continent can offer -- a veritable survivor's guide to managing the unexpected when you're Down Under. Renowned Australian adventurer and bestselling author Sorrel Wilby provides you with the basic lessons on negotiating your way through the bush, across the outback, over the top end, and into the surf and sea. You'll get important lifesaving information on: where you should and shouldn't be driving your Range Rover dealing with natural hazards like river crossings, bush fires, storms, and rips warding off snakes, scorpions, crocs, and sharks encountering Aboriginal people, Bushies, Eccentrics, and Surfers finding food and water treating heatstroke, hypothermia, and tropical infections identifying proper emergency radio frequencies and much more!
Since their emergence in the 1960s, lifestyle sports (also referred to as action sport, extreme sports, adventure sports) have experienced unprecedented growth both in terms of participation and in their increased visibility across public and private space. book seeks to explore the changing representation and consumption of lifestyle sport in the twenty-first century. The essays, which cover a range of sports, and geographical contexts (including Brazil, Europe, North America and Australasia) focus on three themes. First, essays scrutinise aspects of the commercialisation process and impact of the media, reviewing and reconsidering theoretical frameworks to understand these processes. The scholars here emphasise the need to move beyond simplistic understandings of commercialisation as co-option and resistance, to capture the complexity and messiness of the process, and of the relationships between the cultural industries, participants and consumers. The second theme examines gender identity and representations, exploring the potential of lifestyle sport to be a politically transformative space in relation to gender, sexuality and ‘race’. The last theme explores new theoretical directions in research on lifestyle sport, including insights from philosophy, sociology and cultural geography. The themes the monograph addresses are wide reaching, and centrally concerned with the changing meaning of sport and sporting identity in the twenty-first century. This book was previously published as a Special Issue of Sport in Society.
This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice provides a unique, global overview of sports and sports cultures. Unlike most works of this type, this book provides both essays that examine general topics, such as globalization and sport, international relations and sport, and tourism and sport, as well as essays on sports history, culture, and practice in world regions—for example, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Oceania—in order to provide a more global perspective. These essays are followed by entries on specific sports, world athletes, stadiums and arenas, famous games and matches, and major controversies. Spanning topics as varied as modern professional cycling to the fictional movie Rocky to the deadly ball game of the ancient Mayans, the first three volumes contain overview essays and entries for specific sports that have been and are currently practiced around the world. The fourth volume provides a compendium of information on the winners of major sporting competitions from around the world. Readers will gain invaluable insights into how sports have been enjoyed throughout all of human culture, and more fully comprehend their cultural contexts. The entries provide suggestions for further reading on each topic—helpful to general readers, students with school projects, university students and academics alike. Additionally, the four-volume Sports Around the World spotlights key charismatic athletes who have changed a sport or become more than just an outstanding player.
Whilst being an ambiguous and contested concept, sustainability has become one of the twenty-first century’s most pervasive ideas, as humanity’s increasing impact on the environment, as well as increasing social and economic inequalities, have local and global consequences. Surfing is a globally recognised cultural phenomenon whose unique connection with nature and rapid expansion into a multibillion pound industry offers exciting synergies for exploring various dimensions of sustainability. This book is the first to bring together the world’s foremost experts on the themes of sustainability and surfing. Drawing upon cutting edge theory and research, this book offers multidisciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches on the social, environmental and economic components of sustainable surfing. Contributions provide unique discussions that bridge the gap between theory and practice, exploring topics such as sustainable surf tourism, surf-econometrics, surf activism, surfing governance, the surfing industry, and technological advancements. Each chapter produces in-depth insights to provide foundational insights of the relationship between sustainability and surfing. This book will appeal to multiple audiences in different disciplines and sectors. Practitioners will benefit from the insights presented in this volume, while both undergraduate and postgraduate students will find this volume an invaluable companion, including those working in geography, environmental studies, sport sciences, and leisure and tourism studies.
