Sport, spinal cord injury, and body narratives: A qualitative project

Abstract

Drawing on life history data from a small group of men who have suffered spinal cord injury and become disabled through playing sport, this article explores their body narratives. The most common kind of narratives drawn on to help shape their experiences of disability are focused upon. What kind of body is created in the stories told is also explored. The data generated reveals that the dominant narrative people draw on was the restitution narratives and this is linked with disciplined bodies. In contrast, a small number of people constructed communicative bodies that were drawn towards the quest narrative, whilst one man told a chaos narrative and a chaotic body is revealed in action. We close by inviting others to take narrative seriously and to understand our psychological lives as embodied.