Rethinking Athletic Identity Through Cultural Lenses

Rethinking Athletic Identity Through Cultural Lenses explores the multifaceted nature of athletic identity, emphasizing how different perspectives can complement and enhance our understanding. This book integrates cultural, discursive, narrative, and dialogical approaches to offer a broader and more nuanced perspective. The book offers a comprehensive examination of how athletic identity is continuously shaped—and sometimes constrained—by dominant discourses, social norms, cultural narratives, and institutional practices, alongside the broader cultural dialogues around sport within each socio-cultural context. This book provides tools for understanding the diverse experiences of athletes, particularly during pivotal moments such as injury, retirement, or performance decline, as well as for those with varied socio-cultural backgrounds and intersecting identities (of age, gender, race, ability/disability, ethnicity, religion etc.). Chapters include a variety of case studies, applied tools, reflective exercises, and discussion questions that can be used as teaching material or for professional development.This book is ideal reading for students, and practitioners in psychology - sport psychology, as well as those who are interested in cultural, sociological, and identity studies in sport as well as coaches and other sports professionals involved in the holistic care of athletes, offering a culturally sensitive framework that can be used to support athletes in diverse contexts. Read more