An ethnographic study of the skateboarding culture.
2009; Volume: 12; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1543-9518
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumoIntroduction Ethnography describes a culture and provides an understanding of that culture from an insider's perspective (Neuman, 2003). Through observation, inferences can be made from how members of a culture act, speak, or think within specific cultural contexts to give meaning to actions and behaviors of the group. This study uses an ethnographic design to identify characteristics of the skateboarding culture by documenting characteristics, action, and behaviors of participants in the video compilation of Planes, Trains and Skateboards. World Cup Skateboarding captured the essence of competitive skateboarding in the 2004 release of Planes, Trains and Skateboards from video recorded at X Games X in Los Angeles, CA. Through observation of communication styles and cultural artifacts manifested in the video, the culture of competitive skateboarding is described and generalizations to the overall culture that envelopes skateboarding are discussed. From the discussion of the video content, inferences are synthesized to provide a greater understanding of the skateboarding culture. Population, Sampling, Data Collection Procedures, and Rationale Planes, Trains and Skateboards is a video compilation of skateboarding events held around the world during 2004. Each of the 15 chapters highlights the social scene enveloping the competition and the athletes who participated. For purposes of this analysis, Chapter 13, X Games X, which includes skateboard street, vert best trick, and big air competitions, was selected because of the variety of genres included in the compilation and the competitive nature of the event. The population for this study consists of professional skateboarders participating in skateboard competition at X Games X in Los Angeles, CA. While not all skateboarders become professional athletes, the sample for this study included street skaters, vert skaters, and big air skaters. Street skaters are those who predominantly skate on streets and other public domains where concrete and obstacles offer an interesting playground. Vert skaters are those who skate on a half-pipe, usually made of wood or concrete shaped like half of a pipe cut through the diameter. Big air skaters are the newest genre to the culture as these athletes are the most experienced group of skaters and choose a mega-ramp that rises as high as seven stories in the air from which they drop-in to gain enough speed to carry them across the bottom, up the opposite side, and above the ramp by as much as 15 or 20 feet above the rim. While each group of skaters is different, by identifying the similarities between them, a greater understanding of the skateboarding culture is gleaned. Data was collected through an ethnographic analysis, noting unspoken language, behaviors, and cultural artifacts such as dress, hair, and body art. A description of what is observed in the video is detailed. As the competition begins, a standing room only crowd is observed. No whistles, balls, referees, or coaches can be found. Instead, the competition is on the sidewalk behind Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Just before the competition, one athlete is break dancing for the crowd. Another is signing autographs. One athlete hides his face from the camera as his family sports hats that look like wedges of cheese in the background. Another athlete dances to the music as he eyes the young, thin, attractive girls in the front row of the crowd. From these observations, inferences can be made to the general population of skateboarders that might suggest that skateboarders are more concerned about having fun and connecting with the audience than winning competitions. Validity and Bias Bias is inherent in qualitative research (Neuman, 2003). In particular, because the researcher is the instrument, personal background, interests, and point of view become part of the analysis. In this study, the researcher has an interest in understanding the culture of skateboarding and has participated in the action sports industry for 13 years. …
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