Transnational Mobilities in Action Sport Cultures

H. Thorpe

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781349351367, 9780230390737
• eBook ISBN: 9780230390744
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Globalisation
• Index: Social Sciences

This book contributes to recent debates in transnationalism, mobilities and migration studies by offering the first in-depth sociological examination of the global phenomenon of action sports and the transnational networks and connections being established within and across local contexts around the world.

1

Introduction: Transnational Mobilities and Action Sport Cultures: Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

On October 14, 2012, Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner stepped out onto a platform more than 120,000 feet from earth. After a nervous journey in which he was carried into outer space by a helium-filled balloon, Baumgartner emerges from the capsule in a white space suit covered in logos of energy drink company Red Bull, and stands on the ledge overlooking the speckled earth surface. After brief communications with his mission team located in eastern New Mexico, he then proclaims ‘the whole word’s watching . . . I’m going home now’, before leaning into the fall. After a few moments of free-fall, Baumgartner begins to spin wildly, out of control, his body blurs. Audio from the control room is cut, leaving millions of viewers around the world perching on the edge of their seats, holding their breath in anticipation. It is only upon regaining control of the spin that the audio from Baumgartner’s mission team is switched back on, and family members and viewers alike are able to sigh with relief. Landing safely on the dry desert crust, Baumgartner collapses to his knees and looks briefly to the sky, raising his fists in elation. A Red Bull helicopter arrives on cue and the cameramen come running to capture the emotional moment. Indeed, it is a moment worthy of celebration. Baumgartner set an array of world records. Not only did he become the first person to free-fall while breaking the sound barrier, he also achieved the greatest distance travelled and speed reached by a skydiver.

The jump was seven years in the making, with Red Bull’s investment ultimately costing more than £9 million. The final budget was three times over the original calculation due primarily to the time required for the scientific development of the capsule. Although a highly risky marketing initiative, Baumgartner’s successful jump ultimately became an incredibly valuable media asset for Red Bull. Of course, this was not by happenchance. The jump was a carefully choreographed media event with National Geographic, BBC and the Red Bull Media House detailing every second with more than 20 cameras. The event broke the record of the most watched live streaming event on YouTube with more than eight million people around the world watching the live footage. The previous record for a live online audience was the 2012 London Olympics with 500,000 concurrent streams. It is reported that 7.6 million viewers also tuned in for Discovery Channel’s live coverage of the jump. Another 40 television stations showed the jump across 50 countries, with an additional 130 digital outlets. As with all Red Bull events, new media was integral to the choreography of this spectacle. Red Bull’s Facebook post-jump photo of Baumgartner gained almost 216,000 likes, 10,000 comments and over 29,000 shares within 40 minutes. Further revealing the digital significance of this event, more than three million tweets were sent about the jump (Clancy, 2012), and half the worldwide trending topics on Twitter were related to the ‘Red Bull Stratos’ event. The night of the jump, Baumgartner tweeted: ‘One small step for man, one giant step for energy drink marketing’ (cited in McGiugan, 2012, para. 9).

Clearly, this is a historic media event, not only redefining the role of new media in the production and consumption of global sporting spectacles, but also the role of transnational corporations in producing such mega events. In contrast to previously comparable achievements, such as Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s successful climb of Mount Everest in 1951 or Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon in 1969, the event had very few connections to the nation or nationality. Rather than being narrated as a huge achievement for Austria – Baumgartner’s home country – or the United States – where the event took place – the successful jump was largely attributed to a transnational company (Red Bull) and a transnational celebrity (Baumgartner). Arguably, this sporting spectacle raises important questions about the changing nature of sport in the 21st century, and particularly the long-standing connection between sport and national identity.

For many, the idea of the nation appears commonsensical. However, most theorists consider the nation to be a modern phenomenon, ‘a product of economic, cultural and political developments that occurred over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’ (Gruneau & Whitson, 1993, p. 250; Edensor, 2002). The role of sport in the construction of the nation as ‘imagined community’ (Anderson, 1983) has garnered considerable academic attention from both sociologists and historians (for example, Bale, 1986; Edensor, 2002; Hunter, 2003; Jarvie, 1993; Porter & Smith, 2004; Scherer & Jackson, 2012; Tomlinson & Young, 2006). In his book, Sport, Nationalism and Globalization, Alan Bairner (2001) reveals both the positive and less than savoury aspects of the relationship between sport and nationalism:

Sport does provide us with an important arena in which to celebrate national identities. It also forces us at times to consider the precise nature of our own national identity. It provides opportunities for representatives of different nations to engage with each other in honest competition and for their fans to enter into the world of carnival. [But] it is also disfigured at times by the darker side of nationalism. Competitors cheat and are often officially encouraged to do so in order to promote athletic prowess of the nation. Fans riot in some strange attempt to conduct war by other means. (Bairner, 2001, p. 17)

He concludes by stating that whether ‘benign or aggressive, the relationship between sport and nationalism is, nevertheless, inescapable’ (p. 17).

Since the early 1990s, a number of sport scholars have also debated processes of globalization in sport (for example, Donnelly, 1996; Houlihan, 1994; Maguire, 1994; McKay et al., 2001). In so doing, they have revealed the forces of globalization as contributing to major changes in the production and consumption of sport. However, just as global forces are influencing contemporary sport, it is important to note that sport is also playing a role in the ‘intensification of global connectivity and growing social consciousness of the world as a single place’ (Robertson, 1992, p. 8). Acknowledging the two-directional flow of such processes, Harvey et al. (1996) explain that while ‘globalization transforms sport by inducing trends of homogenization as well as national diversity’, sport also ‘contributes to globalization in that it is a vehicle for global mass consumption culture’ (p. 258). More recently, Giulianotti & Brownell (2012) acknowledge sport as a ‘potent catalyst of globalization’. Indeed, events such as the Football World Cup and the Olympics draw ‘nations, cities and social groups into transnational contact’ and contribute to ‘enhancing public imagining and experience of the world’ (p. 203). For such global events, however, sport continues to be intimately connected to nationalism: athletes proudly represent their nations, and fans cheer primarily for their national teams and athletes. In this book, I argue that the production and consumption of contemporary action sports, such as B.A.S.E jumping, surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, BMX, parkour and kite-surfing, differ from traditional sports in their relation to the nation and thus offer a valuable case for exploring new trends in the transnationalism of sport and physical youth culture.

Action sports and the ‘global imaginary’

In The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror, Manfred Steger (2008) offers a detailed explanation of the historical transition from the dominance of the nation-state – lasting approximately from the French Revolution through to the end of World War II – to the emergence of a global society shaped by material, informational and cultural networks that transcend national boundaries. According to Steger (2008), it was only after World War II that a global imaginary really began to displace the national imaginary that had dominated social and political consciousness in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Here Steger is not dismissing the nation in the latter, or global processes in the former. Rather, he uses the term ‘imaginary’ to reveal a shift in consciousness based on various social, economic, political and cultural factors (Kling, 2012). I see the relevance of Steger’s framework for understanding differences between traditional and action sports in relation to their connection to the nation.

Many traditional sports (such as rugby, soccer, ice hockey, American football and tennis) developed during periods in which the ‘national imaginary’ was dominant (Andrews, 1991; Holt, 1989; Pope, 2007; Vamplew & Stoddart, 2008). In contrast, most action sports developed during the 1960s and 1970s, during a period in which, according to Steger (2008), the ‘global imaginary’ was emerging, and thus it is perhaps not surprising that we see quite different connections between the national and the global emerging in action sport cultures. While there are certainly similar processes of globalization that can be observed across traditional and action sports, here I argue that action sports offer a particularly insightful case for examining new trends in contemporary sport and physical youth cultural formations (also see Wheaton, 2004b, 2013).

The term ‘action sports’ broadly refers to a wide range of mostly individualized activities, such as BMX, kite-surfing, skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding, that differed – at least in their early phases of development – from traditional rule-bound, competitive, regulated western ‘achievement’ sport cultures (Booth & Thorpe, 2007; Kusz, 2007a; Wheaton, 2004a, 2010). Various categorizations have been used to describe these activities, including extreme, lifestyle and alternative sports. In this book, however, I use the term action sports, as it is the preferred term used by committed participants, many of whom resent the label ‘extreme sports’, which they feel was imposed upon them by transnational corporations and media conglomerates during the mid- and late 1990s (see Thorpe & Wheaton, 2011a). Many action sports gained popularity in North America and some parts of Europe during the new leisure trends of the 1960s and 1970s, and increasingly attracted alternative youth who appropriated these activities and infused them with a set of hedonistic and carefree philosophies and subcultural styles (Booth and Thorpe, 2007; Thorpe & Wheaton, 2011a; Wheaton, 2010). While each action sport has its own unique history, identity and development patterns (Wheaton, 2004a), early participants allegedly sought risks and thrills, touted anti-establishment and do-it-yourself philosophies, and subscribed to an ‘outsider identity relative to the organized sports establishment’ (Kusz, 2007b, p. 359). They saw their activities as ‘different’ to the traditional rule-bound, competitive, regulated western traditional institutionalized sport cultures (Beal, 1995; Humphreys, 1997; Wheaton, 2004a).

Developing during the rise of the ‘global imaginary’ and in a ‘historically unique conjuncture’ of transnational mass communications and corporate sponsors, entertainment industries, and a growing affluent and transient young population, action sports have experienced unprecedented growth both in participation and in their increased visibility across public space (see, for example, Booth & Thorpe, 2007; Rinehart, 2000; Thorpe, 2011a; Wheaton, 2004b). During the mid- and late 1990s, television agencies and corporate sponsors began to recognize the huge potential in action sports as a way to tap into the highly lucrative youth market. Mainstream companies quickly began appropriating the ‘cool’ images of surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders to sell products ranging from energy drinks to credit cards. The global exposure of the X Games and Gravity Games, the inclusion of action sports, such as snowboarding, BMX, mountain biking and freestyle skiing, into the Olympic Games, and the popularity of action sport video games (such as Tony Hawk Pro Skater) and movies (such as Blue Crush, Dogtown and ZBoys) helped further expose these sports to the masses. Action sport athletes increasingly appeared on mainstream television, including an array of reality shows, on the covers of magazines such as Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and FHM, and featured in advertisements for corporate sponsors such as Nike, Mountain Dew and American Express. As a result, action sport athletes became household names. Indeed, skateboarder Tony Hawk, surfer Kelly Slater and snowboarder Shaun White were identified as being among the top ten most popular athletes among 13–34 year olds in North America (‘What is Transworld all about?’, 2007).

As a result of mainstream media coverage and the inclusion of action sports into mega sporting events, many action sports experienced exponential growth between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. For example, snowboarding witnessed a 385 per cent increase in participation between 1988 and 2003, reaching an estimated 8.2 million snowboarders in the US and Canada in 2010 (Lewis, 2011a). The number of recreational surfers in the US grew by 49.4 per cent between 1987 and 2001 to an estimated 2.2 million participants. In Australia, there were more than 2.5 million recreational surfers in 2012 (note that this is more than 10 per cent of the Australian population), and according to the International Surfing Association, there are more than 35 million surfers in more than 100 countries (Aguerre, 2013). In 2008, skateboarding was identified as the fastest growing sport in the US with more than 10.1 million participants (NSGA, 2008). Since the economic recession of 2008 and 2009, however, some cultural commentators have observed a slowing in the growth rates of some action sports. For example, Time magazine recently suggested that snowboarding ‘may have reached its peak’ (Tuttle, 2013) and the New York Times also asked ‘has snowboarding lost its edge?’ (Solomon, 2013). Some studies also show a decline in the number of highly committed skateboarders in North America (Wixon, 2013). While growth rates may be slowing, many action sports remain highly popular activities with participation rates ebbing and flowing in response to broader trends in sport and leisure consumption patterns.

Young, white males continue to constitute a dominant force in the core of many action sport cultures (Atencio et al., 2009; Evers, 2010a; Kusz, 2007a, 2007b; Thorpe, 2010a). In the US, for example, approximately 65 per cent of snowboarders are male (Lewis, 2012), more than 75 per cent are 24 or younger (NSGA, 2005a), 42 per cent come from households with an income of more than US$75,000 (AMG, 2007), and approximately only 11 per cent are members of racial/ethnic minority groups (NSGA Newsletter, 2001). Similar trends are observable across other action sports. For example, 86 per cent of committed BMX participants are male; and 88 per cent of core skateboarders are under the age of 25 (SFIA, 2013). Yet these activities have increasingly attracted an influx of participants from around the world, and from different social classes and age groups, as well as females and minority groups (see Anderson 1999; Thorpe, 2009, 2010; Wheaton, 2013). Some cultural commentators have described the ‘greying’ of action sports such as surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding (Lewis, 2010a; Williams, 2012). In 2010, approximately 60 per cent of US snowboarders and surfers were over 25 years of age, as were 17 per cent of skateboarders (Lewis, 2010a). The female action sport demographic has also grown over the past two decades (Thorpe, 2007). In 2007, there were three million more female skateboarders in the US than in 1995 (AMG, 2007), and by 2003 women made up approximately 34.3 per cent of the US snowboarding population (NSGA, 2005b). As well as targeting the aging action sport demographic and the female niche market, many action sport companies and organizations are also employing an array of strategies to attract more minority customers and patrons (see Lewis, 2010b; Bang et al., 2010).

Recent estimates suggest there are more than 22 million Americans currently participating annually in the four most popular action sports – skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX riding and surfing – with many participating on a regular basis and engaging in an array of other action sports (AMG, 2007). For example, 33 per cent of US snowboarders also skateboard; 39 per cent of BMX riders also skateboard and 16 per cent snowboard; and 33 per cent of surfers are also avid skateboarders and 26 per cent participate in snowboarding (AMG, 2007). Unfortunately, reliable international statistics are scarce, yet similar trends have been observed in many western, and some eastern (China, Japan, South Korea) countries (see Booth & Thorpe, 2007; Thorpe, 2008a; Wheaton, 2004b, 2010). Moreover, it is important to note that participation rates do not account for the broader cultural reach of these activities. According to a recent report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc, the action sport industry, which includes media, events, clothing and equipment, continues to expand, with predictions that the global board sports industry will reach US$20.5 billion by 2017 (Global Boardsports, 2011). Indeed, the rise of transnational action sport media and corporations continues to play a significant role in the spreading of ideas, images, and styles across borders (see Chapters 2 and 3).

In contrast to many traditional sports, action sports have never been closely associated with the nation. Adopting a counter-cultural ideology, many early participants explicitly rejected nationalistic sentiments. For example, Terje Haakonsen, a snowboarder of legendary status, described snowboarding as about making ‘fresh tracks and carving powder and being yourself’ rather than ‘nationalism and politics and big money’ (cited in Lidz, 1997, p. 114). While local weather, terrain and socio-cultural factors continue to influence the experiences of action sport participants in different locations around the world, a discourse of transnationalism pervades the global action sport culture. Despite many languages and countries of origin, action sport enthusiasts overwhelmingly describe their experiences using the same jargon and express similar cultural sentiments. Many read the same magazines, watch the same videos and visit the same websites, many of which are owned by transnational corporations. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that skateboarders in Barcelona (Spain), Auckland (New Zealand), Melbourne (Australia), Washington, D.C. (US) and Vancouver (Canada) embody similar styles of clothing and bodily deportment; surfers in Raglan (New Zealand), Byron Bay (Australia), Los Angeles (US) and Ericeira (Portugal) also sport similar fashions; and snowboarders in Banff (Canada), Wanaka (New Zealand), Saas Fee (Switzerland) and Colorado (US) wear clothing and equipment from many of the same companies, and similar hairstyles and fashions as their favourite snowboarding celebrities.

Approaching these sports from positions of privilege, many action sport participants also travel extensively – locally, nationally, internationally and virtually – in pursuit of new terrain, and social interactions and cultural connections with fellow enthusiasts. According to Transworld Snowboarding journalist Jennifer Sherowski (2004),

when it comes to seeing the world, snowboarders are lucky:

. . . we belong to a planet-wide culture that makes journeying to the remotest places the equivalent of visiting a pack of friends for a day of slashing it. You shred a place, you live it, you know it – you don’t just buy the postcard at the airport. (p. 106; emphasis added)

Glossing over local, regional and national differences, as well as the logistical complexities and privileged nature of such travel opportunities, Sherowski (2004) continues to wax lyrical; snowboarding is a ‘global culture’ that ‘transcends borders and language barriers’ (p. 106). Such discourses of transnationalism are common in action sport media and everyday dialogue between participants, and as action sport enthusiasts continue to travel to more remote destinations, the global reach of (western) action sports is expanding. Importantly, however, individuals and groups around the world are rejecting, accepting and reappropriating these styles in local contexts, such that we are witnessing processes of both globalization and glocalization in operation (see Chapters 2 and 8).

In contrast to traditional sports, early action sport competitions typically celebrated self-expression, with athletes representing themselves and/or their sponsors rather than their nation of origin. However, with the institutionalization of action sports, some have been incorporated into mainstream sporting event structures that expect and/or impose national identification, thus causing some tensions for action sport participants whose transnational sporting ident...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Transnational Mobilities and Action Sport Cultures: Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Considerations
• Part I Transnational Action Sport Cultural Networks
• Part II Action Sport Migration and Transnational Mobilities
• Part III Action Sport (Im)mobilities in Disrupted and Conflicted Spaces
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index