ABSTRACT
Physical cultural studies (PCS) was born largely out of disciplinary struggles in kinesiology departments over the last few decades, where the moving body has increasingly become the site and source of conflict and contestation. Inheriting from cultural studies, PCS is ensconced in this language and conceptual apparatus of struggle, of epistemic crises and epistemological conflict, and this has become its modus operandi for understanding both the active body and the critical, emancipatory mission of the field. While this embattled mentality is somewhat merited by the ‘kinesiological order of things’ among those who clamor for expertise on matters of physical activity, it is also important, and impels us to emphasize that the study of physical culture has multiple lines of descent that complement its cultural studies heritage. These include the history of physical education, the birth of interdisciplinarity and the fields of ‘studies’ in the academic community, not to mention the extensive global reach of physical culture itself and its uptake outside of the Academy. In keeping with the recent trajectories of the somatic turn, we suggest that the unifying project of PCS – the ‘end to tribal warfare’ in kinesiology that Alan Ingham envisioned in 1997 – might be best pursued through more productive, albeit provocative conversations around the study of active physicality.
