Visual impairment, sport and somatic work: the auditory experiences of blind and partially sighted cricket players. (4th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Powis, Ben
• Is Part Of: Senses and society. Volume 13:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 147
• Page End: 162
• Publication Date: 2018-05-04
• Subjects: The senses -- visual impairment -- cricket -- somatic work -- auditory; Perception -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Art -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Art -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1080/17458927.2018.1468689
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-8935

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores the auditory experiences of a group of visually impaired elite sportsmen and how their sporting participation provides an alternative way of being in team sport. Here, the focus is upon the constructed auditory structure of visually impaired cricket and how this vast, featureless sporting space is endowed with social value. Unlike previous research into the spatial experiences of relatively stable environments, this article is the first to detail how visually impaired people conceptualize and negotiate such a dynamic and fluid space. Drawing upon the concepts of somatic work, and auditory knowledge, this article establishes the participants' rich sensuous experiences of this physical activity and how their negotiation of the dynamic sporting environment, through the active creation of unique sense-making strategies, subverts the dominant ocularcentric notion of the sporting body. Rather than blindness being reduced to a state of deficit, visually impaired cricket provides an embodied platform to celebrate the participants' multifarious capabilities.