Trails to Community: An Ethnography of Ultrarunning

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dc.contributor.advisorMather, Charles M.
dc.contributor.authorMacNairn, Ian Adam Smith
dc.contributor.committeememberHatt, Doyle Gordon
dc.contributor.committeememberHayashi, Naotaka
dc.date2019-11
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-03T17:14:24Z
dc.date.available2019-07-03T17:14:24Z
dc.date.issued2019-06-27
dc.description.abstractBackground: Ultrarunning is a form of extreme long-distance running in which participants run further than the marathon distance of 42.2km. Ultrarunners are found around the world and represent a broad sociocultural demographic profile. Ultrarunning leads to a particular form of individual embodiment. However, it also seems to result in a peculiar form of social organisation. Ultrarunners, worldwide, commonly refer to their collectivity as an ultrarunning community. This project is an ethnographic exploration of that collectivity. Research Question: The research question that founded and directed this ethnography is, ‘what is ultrarunning community?’ The project was an attempt to explore the structure, identity, and experience of ultrarunning community around the world. Methods: This project relied on ethnographic methods. In particular, this ethnography is one of insider anthropology given my role as complete insider and long-time participant in the sport of ultrarunning. Data collection relied on qualitative and quantitative techniques, including in-person interviews, participant observation, online interviews and questionnaire, cultural material artifacts, and autoethnographic insights. The study population was n=3,784 across all data collection types. Data analysis included descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative thematic analysis. Results: The descriptive statistical analysis resulted in a comprehensive sociocultural demography of the ultrarunning community worldwide. The thematic analysis resulted in 16,170 expressions across 53 codes. These codes were organised into 14 meta-themes and woven into a single meta-narrative. The meta-narrative describes the structure, experience, and identity of the ultrarunning community. The emerging, emic, social organisation of the ultrarunning community was compared and contrasted against an etic, analytic framework of social collectivities. The ultrarunning community appears to share many characteristics of subcultural groups, including subcultures and countercultures, as well as community, neo-tribes, social worlds, and social networks. However, as was found in the case of the individual experience of ultrarunning, the ultrarunning community pushes the boundaries and limits of current etic understandings of social organisations.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMacNairn, I. A. S. (2019). Trails to Community: An Ethnography of Ultrarunning (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/36689
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/110569
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArtsen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission from the author.en_US
dc.subjectEthnographyen_US
dc.subjectSociocultural Anthropologyen_US
dc.subjectAnthropology of sporten_US
dc.subjectUltrarunningen_US
dc.subjectRunningen_US
dc.subjectExtreme sporten_US
dc.subjectCommunityen_US
dc.subjectCommunity studyen_US
dc.subjectParticipant observationen_US
dc.subjectExplorationen_US
dc.subjectLong distance runningen_US
dc.subjectSocial organisationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Social Sciencesen_US
dc.titleTrails to Community: An Ethnography of Ultrarunningen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineAnthropologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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