Silence on 'the break' : exploring concussion in Canadian West Coast surf culture
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Kinesiology, School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Dean, Nikolaus Alexander
issued: 2018-11-08T17:07:26Z
issued: 2018
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Over the last decade a burgeoning body of research has emerged that has explored sport-related concussion (SRC) within a socio-cultural context. In particular, this research has focused on the participants of more “traditional” team sports such as rugby, hockey and football, all the while ignoring participants of more “non-traditional” individualized sports such as surfing. This is significant, as over the last decade surfing has seen a surge in participation rates worldwide (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2017) and has subsequently witnessed a rise in head-related injuries, including SRC. Noting both the increase in participation rates and the rising rates of head-related injuries within surfing, this ethnographically informed study attempted to unpack and situate surf-related concussion within a socio-cultural context by critically exploring how experienced, male and female surfers from Canada’s West Coast understood, perceived, and gave meaning to SRC. The findings revealed that both male and female surfers displayed head strong (Liston et al., 2018) attitudes towards SRC, which encouraged risk-taking behaviours and the denial and downplaying of the injury. Moreover, the findings highlighted the intersections of gender and perceptions of risk in relation to the surfers’ understandings of SRC and raised questions as to who is responsible for educating and diagnosing SRC in unregulated sporting contexts. In addition, the study investigated surfers’ perceptions and attitudes towards protective headgear in surfing and explored why surfers do not wear protective headgear while they surf. The findings highlighted that the surfers’ reasons for not wearing protective headgear were often guided and influenced by larger social, (sub)cultural, and political factors.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/67777
note: SILENCE ON ‘THE BREAK’: EXPLORING CONCUSSION IN CANADIAN WEST COAST SURF CULTURE by NIKOLAUS ALEXANDER DEAN B.A., University of Lethbridge, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Kinesiology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2018 © Nikolaus Alexander Dean, 2018 ii Committee Page The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommended to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Silence on ‘The Break’: Exploring Concussion in Canadian Surf Culture submitted by Nikolaus Alexander Dean in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Kinesiology Examining Committee: Andrea Bundon, Kinesiology Supervisor Brian Wilson, Kinesiology Supervisory Committee Member Moss Norman, Kinesiology Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Over the last decade a burgeoning body of research has emerged that has explored sport-related concussion (SRC) within a socio-cultural context. In particular, this research has focused on the participants of more “traditional” team sports such as rugby, hockey and football, all the while ignoring participants of more “non-traditional” individualized sports such as surfing. This is significant, as over the last decade surfing has seen a surge in participation rates worldwide (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2017) and has subsequently witnessed a rise in head-related injuries, including SRC. Noting both the increase in participation rates and the rising rates of head-related injuries within surfing, this ethnographically informed study attempted to unpack and situate surf-related concussion within a socio-cultural context by critically exploring how experienced, male and female surfers from Canada’s West Coast understood, perceived, and gave meaning to SRC. The findings revealed that both male and female surfers displayed head strong (Listo…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0373608
language: eng
degree discipline: Kinesiology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/67777