My-Self, Embodied in Motion: About Running Road with Autoethnography

Abstract

The article shows how autoethnography can enrich research on sport. As a former competitive runner, the author describes how she has used tools such as autoethnographical movie, photography, or research diary for a complex anthropological illustration of the running experience. The researcher observer the expanding scope of ways in which this technique can be applied to a variety of research topics, with a special consideration of the anthropology of body. She also tackles the problem of the linguistic incommunicability of experiencing the body in sport as well as she suggests solutions. The article is based on the book Embodied in Motion: Polish Female Professional Runners in Anthropological Perspective, but also supplemented with new observations. As its author writes, “For me, autoethnography is valuable also in that it is an interesting engagement between the interlocutors and the researcher, during which an exchange of experiences and opinions takes place. It is a certain work on the relationship. This way, both parties expose themselves; both risk something, and this can result in interesting conclusions” [the editor’s translation].