Running Narratives: Injury, Identity, and Body Insecurity on the Tufts Track and Field Team
Oliver, Sarah A.
2020
- This thesis explores the importance of sports injury narratives, defined as the practice of exploring, understanding and bringing into existence the injury experience through narration, which helps shape the lives and identity changes that occur for college athletes. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with Tufts Track and Field athletes, it argues that hyper-competitive and achievement-oriented ... read morevalues of the modern world have played out in the identity formation, injury experience, and body insecurities of Track and Field athletes. Chapter One discusses the development of identity in athletes and the relationship between identity and self-efficacy. Chapter Two identifies how sports injury narratives vary with event group and specialization. Chapter Three explores how and why athletes tended to minimize injury in their sports injury narratives. Chapter Four discusses the origins and effects of what is sometimes termed a “diet culture” mentality mostly on female athletes. Chapter Five connects the fear of weight gain to injury. A major goal of this thesis was to bring these issues of body insecurity to light, and to encourage change by contributing to an emerging conversation in the world of sport about how the quest for competitive excellence can damage athletes as well as building positive self-identity. I give recommendations for change in Appendix 2.read less
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