Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-19-2019
Keywords
spirituality, physical fitness, exercise, religion, values, world war I, social networks, capitalism, free-running, ecology, urban, poiesis, parkour, pilgrimage, religion
Abstract
Parkour, along with “free-running”, is a relatively new but increasingly ubiquitous sport with possibilities for new configurations of ecology and spirituality in global urban contexts. Parkour differs significantly from traditional sports in its use of existing urban topography including walls, fences, and rooftops as an obstacle course/playground to be creatively navigated. Both parkour and “free-running”, in their haptic, intuitive exploration of the environment retrieve an enchanted notion of place with analogues in the religious language of pilgrimage. The parkour practitioner or traceur/traceuse exemplifies what Michael Atkinson terms “human reclamation”—a reclaiming of the body in space, and of the urban environment itself—which can be seen as a form of playful, creative spirituality based on “aligning the mind, body, and spirit within the environmental spaces at hand”. This study will subsequently examine parkour at the intersection of spirituality, phenomenology, and ecology in three ways: (1) As a returning of sport to a more “enchanted” ecological consciousness through poeisis and touch; (2) a recovery of the lost “play-element” in sport (Huizinga); and (3) a recovery of the human body attuned to our evolutionary past.
Faculty
Faculty of Applied Science & Technology (FAST)
Volume
10
Issue
9
First Page
505
Version
Publisher's version
Copyright
© Brett David Potter
Terms of Use
Terms of Use for Works posted in SOURCE.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Original Publication Citation
Potter, B. D. (2019). Tracing the landscape: Re-enchantment, play, and spirituality in parkour. Religions (Basel, Switzerland ), 10(9), 505. doi:10.3390/rel10090505
SOURCE Citation
Potter, Brett D., "Tracing the Landscape: Re-Enchantment, Play, and Spirituality in Parkour" (2019). Publications and Scholarship. 26.
https://source.sheridancollege.ca/fhass_publications/26
Included in
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Health and Physical Education Commons, Religion Commons
