Exploring Embodiment through the Senses: A Case in High-Risk Leisure

Within CCT, research on the body tends to focus on exploring the phenomenological meanings that surround the body. These meanings are most commonly explored through the identity projects of consumers. Some recent critiques... [ view full abstract ]

Within CCT, research on the body tends to focus on exploring the phenomenological meanings that surround the body. These meanings are most commonly explored through the identity projects of consumers. Some recent critiques posit that CCT has placed an overemphasis on the meaning surrounding consumption. In adopting this focus, CCT has perhaps overlooked the opportunity to explore the embodied experience of consumption. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by adopting a theoretical approach that is equipped to conceptualise these embodied experiences (Crossley 2001). This orientation is further bolstered by a methodological approach that illuminates the somatic experience of consumption (Pink 2009). High-speed motorcycling is conceptualised as a consumption practice (Warde 2005) – accordingly attention is directed towards the interconnection of practice elements. Analysis and interpretation of a combination of narrative interviews and reflexive field notes reveals high-speed motorcycling as an intensely somatic experience. We learn how motorcyclists use their sensing moving bodies to negotiate a constantly unfolding material environment. Importantly, through the example of high-speed motorcycling we gain insight into the conscious and unconscious dimensions of bodily doings. We see how the body features in significant ways that extends beyond its conceptualisation as a repository of meaning.