Skateboarding and subjective-life embodied spirituality

ABSTRACT

This study argues that skateboarding is a contemporary form of ‘subjective-life embodied spirituality’, a fusing of two theoretical frameworks. This theoretical framework is discussed along with specific aspects of skateboarding fitting into this framework. These spiritual aspects include subjective risk-taking, emotional processing, and connecting with an urban environment. This article discusses and describes these aspects and considers what skateboarding as ‘subjective-life embodied spirituality’ might contribute to the field of religion and sport. Methodologically, skateboarders were interviewed and surveyed to discover which aspects of skateboarding are the most meaningful for skaters in the greater Phoenix area in Arizona, USA.

KEYWORDS:

• Skating
• skateboarding
• spirituality
• religion
• sport

Acknowledgments

The researchers would like to thank the skateboarders in this project for sharing their time and perspectives. Many thanks are also extended to the reviewers of the Journal of Contemporary Religion who provided invaluable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 A small portion of the survey respondents failed to indicate their age within the demographic information section of the survey. We have indicated this by stating “no age given” for corresponding quotes. The age range listed in this article denotes the range of those who did indicate their age within the surveys and interviews.

2 This is a general statement about spirituality as a discursive means of explaining meaning-making and related matters in the contemporary world. Given space constraints, we do not include examples to clarify this point further.

3 While organized religion may, for some, also lead to meaning-making, we establish that spirituality, not religion, is utilized in this project, due to the individualized nature and resistance to institutional authority of spirituality for many people.

4 The use of the term ‘religious’ in describing O’Connor’s assessment may be questioned or even questionable. However, we follow O’Connor’s religion framework as set out in his book Skateboarding and Religion (2020).

5 Each part in this section discusses the particular characteristic generally, demonstrates this in the collected data, and then discusses how it is related to embodied subjective-life spirituality. We chose to foreground the general and move into the specific rather than foregrounding spirituality in each instance.

6 As activities like trail running also include risk-taking and falling, it can be argued that this is similar to skateboarding. We agree that there needs to be some delineation here, but Brown does not do so in his article. Here we follow his understanding of a particular phenomenon.

7 More examples would be helpful here, but word limit constraints do not allow for additional material.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research project was provided by Arizona State University’s Institute for Humanities Research (IHR).

Notes on contributors

Terry Shoemaker

Terry Shoemaker is an Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

Ciara Bernal

Ciara Bernal is a recent graduate of Folk Studies at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA, and an incoming doctoral student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA.