‘Skateboarding is not a sport’: Creativity at the margins of capitalism

Publication Date

10-1-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Anthropology Today

Volume

40

Issue

5

DOI

10.1111/1467-8322.12913

First Page

10

Last Page

13

Abstract

One might expect skateboarders to be jubilant that the Olympics recognized theirs as an Olympic sport, but their response is ambivalent. Alexis Sablone, a women's street competition participant, does not consider skateboarding ‘a sport’. What is it if not a sport? This article argues that it is a fugitive, non-teleological, open-source practice for creating new ‘existential territories’ – new forms of personhood, public space and social relationships. Skateboarders’ resistance to centralization and their emphasis on DIY creativity suggests skateboarding involves challenging culturally specific and local norms. It rests on creative remakings of derelict and unevenly developed urban spaces and the construction of new forms of identity and social purpose. The argument is based on fieldwork with the Osaka Daggers.

Department

Anthropology

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS