Tara Magdalinski

What is the nature of athletic performance? This book offers an answer to this fascinating question by considering the relationship between sport, technology and the body. Specifically, it examines cultural resistance to the enhancement of athletes and explores the ways in which performance technologies complicate and confound our conception of the sporting body. The book addresses concerns about the technological "invasion" of the "natural" body to investigate expectations that athletic performances reflect nothing more than the actual capacity of the untainted athlete. By examining a series of case studies, including Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, Fastskin swimsuits, hypoxic chambers and an array of illicit substances and methods, the book distinguishes between internal and external technologies to highlight the ways that performance enhancement, and public reaction to it, can be read. Sport, Technology and the Body offers a powerful challenge to conventional views of athletic performance that stand authenticity against artifice, integrity against corruption, and athletic purity against technological intrusion. It is essential reading for all serious students of the sociology, culture or ethics of sport.

The Nature of Performance

Sport, Technology and the Body

Timothy John Lindsay Chandler

'Sport' and 'religion' are cultural institutions with a global reach. Each is characterised by ritualised performance and by the ecstatic devotion of its followers, whether in the sports arena or the cathedral of worship. This fascinating collection is the first to examine, in detail, the relationship between these two cultural institutions from an international, religiously pluralistic perspective. It illuminates the role of sport and religion in the social formation of collective groups, and explores how sport might operate in the service of a religious community. The book offers a series of cutting-edge contemporary historical case-studies, wide-ranging in their social and religious contexts. It presents important new work on the following fascinating topics: * sport and Catholicism in Northern Ireland * Shinto and sumo in Japan * women, sport and the American Jewish identity * religion, race and rugby in South Africa * sport and Islam in France and North Africa * sport and Christian fundamentalism in the US * Muhammad Ali and the Nation of Islam. With God on their Side is vital reading for all students of the history, sociology and culture of sport. It also presents important new research material that will be of interest to religious studies students, historians and anthropologists.

Sport in the Service of Religion

With God on Their Side

Starting university can be a daunting prospect, as students come to grips with new ways of working, learning and thinking. Studying sport at university poses particular challenges, with students often engaged in playing or coaching sport alongside their studies and having unconventional working patterns. Study Skills for Sport Studies is the only complete guide to degree-level study to be written specifically for students on sport-related courses, outlining the core academic competencies needed to succeed at university. The textbook offers tips and techniques for all aspects of higher education, including time management, critical thinking, academic research and writing, e-learning, presentations, group work and exams. The practical processes are supported by sports-related examples, and each chapter ends with useful exercises to test your skills as well as reflect on your prior learning experiences. Designed as either a self-paced text or a companion to an introductory class, Study Skills for Sports Studies demystifies the academic skills needed to succeed and helps you make the most of your time at university.

Tara Magdalinski

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