Plasticity in Motion

This book draws on Catherine Malabou’s work on plasticity, investigating the transformative power of sport both in its ability to positively shape and, conversely, to destroy. Foschia positions sport as the ontological and discursive force that shapes how we work, watch, and play

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Plasticity in Motion: Sport, Gender, and Biopolitics argues that sport has a transformative power that, when engaged with habitually, can create bodies with the athletic ability to succeed at the incredible performances that captivate modern sports audiences. Robert M. Foschia draws heavily from the influential and extensive work of Catherine Malabou on plasticity – the ability to shape and form – and similarly argues that transformation is not always positive or infinite, with the potential for accidents, injuries, and excommunications. However, sport as a discursive space often precludes any mention of these negative transformations, asserting itself as pure potential and becoming, often to the exclusion of the feminine. What occurs if the feminine enters into this space? Foschia intentionally integrates the feminine back into hypermasculine discussions of sport, opening a new realm of possible transformations to the ways we play, watch, and think about sports. Scholars of communication, media studies, gender studies, rhetoric, and sports will find this book particularly useful.