Taking sporting autobiographies seriously as an analytical and pedagogical resource in sport, exercise and health

Abstract

This article makes the case for taking sporting autobiographies seriously as both an analytical and pedagogical resource. First, the nature of autobiography is clarified and the interest shown by other disciplines in this genre is discussed. Next, the prevailing negative view of sporting autobiographies and the assumptions underlying them are outlined. These are then countered by the presentation of a more positive view that challenges a number of alleged ‘problems’ associated with sporting autobiographies that include being tainted by commercial commitments, the presence of the ghostwriter, and not being able to guarantee unmediated authenticity and ‘truth’. Various forms of narrative analysis (thematic, structural, performative/dialogical) are then described and examples of each of these being applied to sporting autobiographies are provided. Finally, attention is given to the use of sporting autobiographies as a pedagogical resource and the ways in which they might be productively used with students are discussed.

Keywords:

• Sporting autobiography
• negative/positive views
• narrative analysis
• pedagogy

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Michael Erben and the two anonymous referees for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.