Experiments in Pro Wrestling: Toward a Performative and Sensuous Sport Ethnography

Abstract

This paper examines epistemological and ontological issues in ethnographic research and texts. Based on my experiences as a subject in an ethnographic study of pro wrestling, I present an ethnography of the ethnographer. In this paper, I discuss problems arising from a hierarchy of understanding that privileges the ethnographer, the primacy of visualism, and a desire to penetrate and uncover hidden truths. I propose that a performative approach to ethnography recognizes the agency of the ethnographic object and opens access to other sensorial phenomena.