Publications
Below are a selection of my most important academic contributions, which you’re welcome to download.
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The fog soon clears: Brain injuries in boxing
Boxing is ‘all about bodies’; beautiful bodies, broken bodies and, sometimes, brain-damaged bodies. And while a lot of research has explored the physiological side of ‘punch drunk’ syndrome, far less work has attempted to consider how boxers experience brain injuries.
Drugs and supplements in amateur boxing
This research, which is based on the thoughts and experiences of coaches, athletes, officials and others involved in amateur boxing, explores the use of recreational drugs, supplements and performance-enhancing drugs in the sport.
Becoming a decent man
During the ten or so years that I’ve been involved in boxing I’ve seen countless people change their bodies, behaviours and performances of self. For many, this has been neatly understood as a simple process of becoming a boxer.
In large part, such ‘becoming’ involves moving from pugilistic newcomer towards a relatively comfortable embodiment of the physical and emotional grammars that are commonplace within boxing subcultures.
On (not) becoming a boxer
Critics of the Chicago School’s early adoption of immersive qualitative research methodologies claimed they were breaking down an important distance between researcher and participant. These initial arguments were usually couched in the dichotomous comparison of objectivity vs subjectivity. And while the debate has shifted since these early forays, there is still a requirement for researchers to explore the position they occupy in relation to the people they are attempting to understand.
The tyranny of the male preserve
Within this paper I draw on short vignettes and quotes taken from a two-year ethnographic study of boxing to think through the continuing academic merit of the notion of the male preserve. This is an important task due to evidence of shifts in social patterns of gender that have developed since the idea was first proposed in the 1970s.
Approaching the gendered phenomenon of women warriors
Our initial motivation for producing Global Perspectives on Women in Combat Sports: Women Warriors around the World began several years ago when, as PhD candidates studying together at Loughborough University in the UK, Dr. Alex Channon and I developed a shared interest in combat sports through our separate but related research projects.
Being nosey
Within this chapter, I use a collection of extended data excerpts from the study as the basis from which I think through issues connected to my time in the field, as well as embodied research more broadly.
Biology ideology and pastiche hegemony
As knowledge about the biological foundation of the modern patriarchal gender order is increasingly challenged within late-modern social worlds, enclaves persist in which men and women can attempt to recreate understandings of the ‘natural’ basis of sex difference. Within ‘Power Gym’, male boxers were able to symbolise their bodies and behaviors in such a manner.
Study a PhD with Dr. Christopher R. Matthews
I specialise in conducting and supervising immersive research, but I’m keen to discuss various projects and research methods with prospective students as well.