Bodies in Space: Spatializing Physical Cultural Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss the potential contribution of spatial analysis within the emerging area of Physical Cultural Studies (PCS). As PCS examines “expressions of the physical (including, but by no means restricted to sport, exercise, fitness, leisure, health, dance, and movement-related active embodied practices),” an understanding of these practices will be substantially enhanced through spatial analysis as the body impacts and is impacted by the environment in which it exists and the social relations evinced. With a perspective informed by Henri Lefebvre, who recognized the centrality of the body within his analysis of the production of space, the body can be much better understood as the environment and social relations are analyzed through spatial/bodily practices, conceptions of space, and lived space.