TY - CHAP

T1 - Phenomenological insights on motherhood and aquatic embodiment

AU - Evans, Adam B.

AU - Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn

N1 - CURIS 2022 NEXS 209

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - This chapter utilizes sociological phenomenology to investigate intercorporeality, intersubjectivity, and sensoriality in leisure swimming, as experienced by mothers with their pre-school aged children. Data from two research studies highlighted salient elements of such experiences, including a shift in women’s intentionality from the self to their children, and increased focus upon their children’s subtle embodied cues. The ability to ‘read’ such cues was assumed by participants to reside in an innate maternal ‘instinct’, related to the management of perceived risks in the pool and changing-room spaces, including problematic traces of the passage of other bodies. Moreover, the maternal experience was replete with emotion work and the management of young children’s embodied behavior. Mothers were cognizant of the tacit etiquette of the pool, including respect for the integrity of the auditory and somatic space of others. Our insights offer an example of the value of a sociological and feminist phenomenological theoretical framework in understanding mothers’ embodied experiences of leisure-swimming.

AB - This chapter utilizes sociological phenomenology to investigate intercorporeality, intersubjectivity, and sensoriality in leisure swimming, as experienced by mothers with their pre-school aged children. Data from two research studies highlighted salient elements of such experiences, including a shift in women’s intentionality from the self to their children, and increased focus upon their children’s subtle embodied cues. The ability to ‘read’ such cues was assumed by participants to reside in an innate maternal ‘instinct’, related to the management of perceived risks in the pool and changing-room spaces, including problematic traces of the passage of other bodies. Moreover, the maternal experience was replete with emotion work and the management of young children’s embodied behavior. Mothers were cognizant of the tacit etiquette of the pool, including respect for the integrity of the auditory and somatic space of others. Our insights offer an example of the value of a sociological and feminist phenomenological theoretical framework in understanding mothers’ embodied experiences of leisure-swimming.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Phenomenology

KW - Motherhood

KW - Aquatic physical activity

KW - Leisure swimming

KW - Pre-school children

KW - Embodied experiences

U2 - 10.4324/9781003140757-3

DO - 10.4324/9781003140757-3

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9780367691820

T3 - Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Activity

SP - 15

EP - 29

BT - Motherhood and Sport

A2 - Spowart, Lucy

A2 - McGannon, Kerry R.

PB - Routledge

CY - London

ER -