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Critical Reflexivity and Positionality on the Scholar-Practitioner Continuum: Researching Women's Embodied
Fabiana Cristina Turelli1,2, Alexandre Fernandez Vaz3, David Kirk4,5
1Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada.
Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 27, 2023
Summary
This study challenges the mind-body dichotomy in sports research, arguing for embodied researchers. It explores how personal experiences and reflexivity enhance understanding of embodied subjectivities in elite women karate athletes.
Area of Science:
- Sociology of Sport
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Embodied Cognition
Background:
- Traditional sports research often perpetuates a mind-body dichotomy, viewing athletes and researchers through Cartesian dualism.
- Societal biases and binary thinking influence research, often disembodying the researcher as a neutral, objective, and purely rational entity.
- This perspective overlooks the integral role of embodied experiences and prior knowledge in the research process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the reflexive process within a PhD project focused on the embodied subjectivities of elite women karate athletes.
- To challenge the traditional disembodied researcher role by advocating for a fluid, non-binary positioning that embraces embodiment.
- To examine how a researcher's personal, embodied experiences can inform and enrich the research-doing process.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative, autoethnographic approach integrating the researcher's embodied experiences as a former amateur karateka, woman, and researcher.
- Self-reflection and guided learning process to organize and apply personal experiences to scholarly work.
- Immersive research within the environment of elite women karate athletes to study their embodied subjectivities.
Main Results:
- The researcher's embodied experiences and intersectional identity (woman, queer, former athlete) significantly motivated research questions and informed the research process.
- Engaging in reflexive practice allowed the researcher to move beyond self-doubt and strengthen her positionality.
- The study highlights a continuum between researcher and practitioner, demonstrating how embodied subjectivity is produced and examined.
Conclusions:
- Embodied researchers, acknowledging their experiences and subjectivities, can conduct more holistic and authentic research.
- A fluid, non-binary approach to research-doing, integrating personal and professional knowledge, is empowering and academically valuable.
- This reflexive journey demonstrates the potential for personal growth and strengthened confidence through engaged, embodied scholarship.
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