Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Style Matters

Explorations of Bodies, Whiteness, and Identity in Rock Climbing

Bibliographic Data

ID12082392
AuthorsBruce R Erickson (0009-0007-0322-9504, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume22
Issue3
Pages373-396
Publication date2005-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Sport Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0741-1235 • E-ISSN: 1543-2785
PublisherHuman Kinetics (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1123/ssj.22.3.373
OpenAlexW1571928829
LanguageEN
Citations received15

The concern for style in climbing has been a long-standing debate in the climbing community, ranging from discussions around the politics of bolting routes to what exactly constitutes a first ascent. These debates, when read through Lacanian psychoanalysis, illustrate a larger concern for the construction of identity within rock climbing. Style becomes a strategy of differentiation that works through the signifier of whiteness to promise wholeness to the identity of the climber. Descriptions of the events in August of 2000 when four American climbers on a North Face expedition in Kyrgyzstan were taken hostage by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan illustrate that whiteness only covers up deficiencies in the subject and creates a constant state of insecurity. Through the concept of whiteness as a logic of difference, it is possible to understand how this event illustrates the construction of whiteness, and specifically, the moments when whiteness fails to provide being to the subject

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Climbing · Face (sociological concept · Identity (music · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Style (visual arts · Subject (documents · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Computer Science · Gender Studies · History · Law

  • Lifestyle climbing

    Jillian M Rickly, Jillian M Rickly-Boyd•Journal of Sport & Tourism•2012

  • Femininity, Body Size, and (Mis)Fitting in Rock Climbing Culture

    Lindsey N Breitwieser, Jocelyne Bartram Scott•Fat Studies•2023

  • The (re)production of climbing space

    Open Access•Jillian M Rickly•Cultural Geographies•2017

  • Seeing Your Sporting Body

    Michelle T Helstein•Sociology of Sport Journal•2007

  • Leisure and the “White-Savior Industrial Complex”

    Kristina Anderson, Eric Knee et al.•Journal of Leisure Research•2021

  • Evaluating climbing interventions for Parkinson's disease

    Open Access•Ryan A Smith, Allison Anne Hellman•Frontiers in Sports and Active…•2026

  • I’m a Red River local”

    Open Access•Jillian M Rickly•Tourist Studies•2017

  • They all have a different vibe”

    Open Access•Jillian M Rickly•Tourist Studies•2017

  • Scaling hope

    Michela J Stinson, J Wigglesworth et al.•Leisure Studies•2025

  • Alienation and anxiety in tourism motivation

    Open Access•Elizabeth S Vidon, Jillian M Rickly•Annals of Tourism Research•2018

  • White Men Can't Jump

    Open Access•Laura Azzarito, Louis Harrison•International Review for the…•2008

  • The woman is perfected

    Open Access•Klaudia Wittmann•Psychoanalysis Culture & Society•2024

  • White Power and Sport

    Open Access•C Richard King, David J Leonard et al.•Journal of Sport and Social Issues•2007

  • Lifestyle Mobilities

    Jillian M Rickly•Mobilities•2016

  • Going to Brazil

    Open Access•J Joseph•Global Networks•2008

Unique citing works15
Citations per year0,79
Citation span2007 - 2026 (20)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 15
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae