Abstract
Alongside other ‘nature’ sports such as climbing, surfing and fell-running, mountain biking is currently witnessing a global surge in popularity. However, research on the various stakeholders working in such sports, including site managers, committee members, volunteers, and coaches is still limited. Drawing on data from the first ever European mountain bike trail-building survey (n=152) and applying Bernard Stiegler’s duality between memory and bifurcation, this paper asks whether the increasing professionalisation of trail building can help in reconstituting a political economy of (nature) sports that distances itself from cold, calculative forms of ‘employment’ (l’emploi) and instead reconnects people to ‘work’ (le travail) – knowledge and care(ful) practices that encourage communal engagement and ecological stewardship. In doing so, we analyse the forms of praxis that connect trail builders to the landscapes and trails that they work with/on, how these forms of praxis are embodied in specific ‘roles’ and professional expectations, and what such creative practices might offer in the development of (global) trail building standards that accommodate both the collective (or tertiary) knowledge of trail builders, and the emergence of new forms, styles and practices. The paper therefore answers calls for more research that examines the emerging and evolving forms of work in the sports industry, providing novel insights into the negotiation of professional identity in an increasingly global and globalised world.
Presenters
Jim CherringtonSenior Lecturer, Academy of Sport and Physical Activity, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
STIEGLER, MOUNTAINBIKING, TRAILBUILDING, WORK
