Humanities

Our summer research investigates and interrogates the phenomenon of kinesthesia, or the sensation of the body in motion. Through relevant reading and discussion, creative and analytical writing, and peer- and self-revision, we take a pointed interest in how and why we move through social and physical spaces, with an emphasis on American sports and sports culture. Our essays, entitled “Ancient Greece to Elbow Grease: Redefining Pain & Heroism in Sport” and “Fighting Forward: My Body as a Transformative Force,” offer personal and critical insight into sports’ capacity to either foreground our identities or complicate them. Ultimately, our essays settle on different, albeit related, conclusions. While the former argues that the sports world spends too much time glorifying athletes’ suffering, rather than celebrating their acts of empathy, the latter asserts that sports can be a foundation for undocumented immigrants (and others) to create a positive relationship between the body and the self.