An interdisciplinary and multi-institutional team of researchers is undertaking a sociological-phenomenological study of sporting embodiment and the senses in a range of physical cultures, including boxing, mixed martial arts, traditionalist Chinese martial arts, and distance running. The team comprises Prof Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, HART Director, Lincoln, Dr Anu Vaittinen, Newcastle University, Dr Helen Owton, The Open University, and Dr George Jennings, Cardiff Metropolitan University. The team is particularly interested in investigating ‘intense embodiment’ experiences of these physical-cultural lifeworlds. An article from the project has recently been published in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, and analysed thermoception, as the lived experience of heat.
